The equity markets were quick to erase early losses as they staged a pre-interim Budget rally on Wednesday.
At the close, the S&P BSE Sensex rallied 613 points, or 0.86% to end at 71,753 levels. The Nifty50, on the other hand, ended at 21,726, up 204 points or 0.95%.
The Nifty was led by Dr Reddy’s Labs, Eicher Motors, Sun Pharma, Divis Labs, Tata Motors, Cipla, Bajaj Finserv, and Maruti Suzuki.
In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices advanced 1.57% and 1.83%, respectively.
The broad-based rally in the markets today was led by the Nifty Pharma index, up 2.5%, the Nifty PSU Bank index up 2.28%, and the Nifty Realty index by 1.9%.
Bank Nifty witnessed a sharp surge during the day and marched towards 46,000. On the upside, it is approaching key hurdles placed in the range 46,370– 46,640 where the key daily moving averages are placed.
Except for capital goods, all other sectoral indices ended in the green, with auto, bank, healthcare, power, metal, and realty up 1-2% each.
A positive build-up was reflected in Indian markets before the interim budget, although expectations are low, the market anticipates a lower fiscal deficit supported by buoyant tax revenues.
The rupee ended higher at 83.04 per US dollar from Tuesday’s close of 83.11. The Union Budget adds an element of uncertainty to the currency’s movement.
Experts predicted the rupee to be in a volatile range, fluctuating between 82.95 and 83.20.
Additionally, the US interest rate decision scheduled for later in the night could influence the USD, contributing to increased volatility in the rupee.
Announcing its results for Q3FY24, Bank of Baroda reported a 19% rise in its net profit at Rs 4,579 crore, up from Rs 3,852.70 crore in the base period. Net interest income also grew nearly 3% to Rs 11,101 crore.
Also, the Adani Wilmar net profit was down 18.4% at Rs 201 crore in Q3. Revenue was down by 17% at Rs 12,828.4 crore from Rs 15,438 crore. Ebitda was down 16.7% at Rs 503.8 crore from Rs 605 crore.