Key gauges end flat amid Budget volatility

Indian equity benchmarks altered between gains and losses in a special session for the Union Budget and ended flat on Saturday, even as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a major boost to spur consumption. The FM proposed a nil tax on income up to Rs 12 lakh per annum under the New Tax Regime. 

Some of the important factors for the markets:

Govt allocates Rs 11.21 lakh crore for capex in FY26: Having missed the target for the current financial year, the government proposed to spend Rs 11.21 lakh crore towards capex for FY26. However, the capex target is going to be missed by about Rs 93,000 crore for FY25. 

Traders await RBI MPC meeting: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to cut its main policy rate on February 7 followed by just one more cut next quarter.   

Key infra sectors’ growth slows to 4% in December 2024: The output of eight key infrastructure sectors slowed down to 4 per cent in December 2024, as against 5.1 per cent growth registered a year ago. 

Infrastructure sector stocks jump: Infrastructure sector stocks jumped as government announced that each infrastructure ministry to come up with 3 PPP proposals, Rs 1.5 lakh crore interest free loans for capex and incentives for reforms.

Agri stocks surge: Shares of agriculture companies surged after government announced PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, covering 100 districts with low yields, modern crop intensity and below-average credit parameters. 

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 5.39 points or 0.01% to 77,505.96, and the CNX Nifty was down by 26.25 points or 0.11% to 23,482.15.      

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 77,899.05 and 77,006.47 respectively. There were 16 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.49%, while Small cap index was up by 0.28%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 3.69%, FMCG up by 2.91%, Consumer Discretionary up by 2.89%, Consumer Durables up by 2.47% and Auto up by 1.75%, while Capital Goods down by 3.02%, PSU down by 2.69%, Industrials down by 2.68%, Power down by 2.63% and Utilities down by 2.15% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Zomato up by 7.17%, Maruti Suzuki up by 4.98%, ITC up by 4.71%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 2.96% and Asian Paints up by 2.16%. On the flip side, Power Grid Corporation down by 3.71%, Larsen & Toubro down by 3.36%, NTPC down by 2.04%, Ultratech Cement down by 2.03% and HCL Technologies down by 1.87% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has said that bank credit growth to personal loans segment moderated to 14.9 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended December 27, 2024 as compared with 17.6 per cent a year ago, largely due to decline in growth in 'other personal loans', 'vehicle loans' and 'credit card outstanding'. The RBI has released data on sectoral deployment of bank credit for December 2024 collected from 41 select commercial banks, accounting for about 95 per cent of the total non-food credit deployed by all commercial banks.

On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, growth in non-food bank credit as on the fortnight ended December 27, 2024 moderated to 12.4 per cent as compared to 15.8 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year. According to the data, bank credit to agriculture and allied activities registered a growth of 12.5 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended December 27, 2024 (19.4 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year).

Further, credit growth to industry remained almost flat at 7.4 per cent year-on-year.  In services sector too, credit growth moderated to 13.0 per cent (y-o-y) as on the fortnight ended December 27, 2024. The growth was 20 per cent for the corresponding fortnight of the previous year. The moderation was primarily due to decelerated growth in credit to 'non-banking financial companies' (NBFCs) and trade segments. However, credit growth (y-o-y) to 'computer software' and 'professional services' accelerated.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 23,632.45 and 23,318.30. There were 22 stocks advancing against 29 stocks declining on the index. 

The top gainers on Nifty were Trent up by 6.98%, ITC Hotels up by 5.00%, Maruti Suzuki up by 4.87%, Tata Consumer Product up by 4.16%, Eicher Motors up by 3.85%. On the flip side, Bharat Electronics down by 4.10%, Power Grid Corp down by 3.80%, Larsen & Toubro down by 3.06%, Cipla down by 2.81% and Grasim Industries down by 2.74% were the top losers.