Markets roared back to life on Monday after six days of deep declines as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented an expansionary Union Budget for 2021-22 which sought to pull the economy out of the COVID-19 pandemic-induced slump through increased spending on infrastructure, healthcare and farm sectors without resorting to higher taxation.
The 30-share BSE Sensex zoomed 2,314.84 points, or 5%, to close at 48,600.61.
This was its second-biggest single-day jump in absolute terms and the best day in almost 10 months.
On similar lines, the broader NSE Nifty soared 646.60 points, or 4.74%, to close at 14,281.20.
Across-the-board buying
The benchmarks were propelled by across-the-board buying, with banking and finance stocks leading the charge.
IndusInd Bank topped the Sensex gainers’ chart with a jump of 14.75%, followed by ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, L&T and HDFC. Only three index components closed in the red — Dr. Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra and HUL — shedding up to 3.70%.
