New Delhi: Stock markets witnessed a bloodbath during the special trading session on Saturday as traders resorted to short selling after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2020-21.
Investors said the Budget proposals did not contain any concrete measures to arrest the falling economic growth which has dipped to a decade-low level. They said that lowering of income tax rates with the removal of exemptions may not lead to any meaningful boost to consumption, which is crucial to reverse the slump.
However, the Economic Survey 2020 said the GDP is expected to grow at 6 to 6.5 per cent in the new financial year beginning on April 1.
Sensex closes at 39,735.53, down by 987.96 points. pic.twitter.com/2Jbo5fMGlr
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2020
At the closing bell, equity indices were down by over 2.55 per cent. The Sensex crashed 987.96 points to 39,735 while the Nifty 50 fell by 318 points to 11,639.
Among stocks, Tata Motors dropped by almost 6.34 per cent at Rs 165.40 per share. ONGC too witnessed a plunge of 4.5 per cent at Rs 104 per share while ITC, HDFC and Bajaj Finserv slipped between 5.2 and 6.76 per cent each.
Among the other losers were Larsen and Toubro, Zee Entertainment, Coal India and Mahindra & Mahindra.
However, IDBI Bank share price rose by 4 per cent after the government announced that it will sell its stake in the bank. The data available on BSE shows that the government held a 47.11 per cent stake in IDBI Bank as of December 31, 2019, while Life Insurance Corporation of India held a 51 per cent stake.
The other prominent gainers were Wipro, Nestle India and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. (ANI)
