The BSE benchmark Sensex surged over 443 points and the NSE Nifty advanced 115 points in opening trade on Monday, ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22 presentation in Parliament. At the time of writing, the BSE was up 438.15 points, and Nifty was up 109 points.
The 30-share Sensex was trading higher by 443.06 points or 0.96% at 46,728.83; and the broader Nifty was up 114.85 points or 0.84% at 13,749.45. On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, ONGC, Titan and HDFC Bank were prominent gainers. Of the Sensex constituents, 16 shares were trading in the green.
On Friday, the Sensex had closed 588.59 points or 1.26% lower at 46,285.77, and the Nifty had settled 182.95 points or 1.32% down at 13,634.60. Over the previous six sessions, the Sensex has lost 3,506.35 points or 7.04%, and the Nifty has shed 1,010.10 points or 6.89%.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament on Monday. Market experts and economists are of the view that this budget will be critical in terms of picking up the pieces after the economic destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Finance Minister tabled the Economic Survey 2020-21 in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The survey projected an 11% growth in the next financial year as the Indian economy makes a 'V-shaped' recovery after witnessing a pandemic-led carnage.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is projected to contract by a record 7.7% in the current fiscal ending March 31, 2021.
Analysts are of the view that the continued pullback in domestic markets was mainly led by profit-booking ahead of the Union Budget.
"Weakening global trend due to the concerns of speculation and slowing economic recovery has hugely impacted the cautious pre-Budget domestic market. The pace of recovery in the US and Europe has slowed down, having implication on Indian exports and FII inflows.
"In this waning domestic trend, Budget will be the key to provide strength and perform better compared to the rest of the world. Expectations are high that the government should maintain the populist and reformist agenda of maintaining the mass sentiments, deficit discipline and growth in difficult pandemic period," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services had earlier said.
With PTI inputs