BackStock markets give thumbs down to Budget
Stock markets give thumbs down to Budget
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Mumbai: The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange index was down 540.74 points or 4.01% to 12,938 on the day Finance Minister P. Chidambaram unveiled the annual Budget. The 50-share National Stock Exchange index down by 148.60 points or 3.82% to 3,745. About 564 shares have advanced, 1,864 shares declined, and 30 shares are unchanged.
Most companies saw red with shares of Infosys Technologies Ltd shed 109.50 points to close at Rs2,078.35, ICICI Bank Bank Ltd dropped 43.75 points to Rs831.90, Tata Steel Ltd dipped 26.85 points to Rs442.50, and Bajaj Auto Ltd declined 107.30 points to Rs2,616.95.
India said on Wednesday it was raising spending in its annual budget on health and education and focusing on boosting the flagging agricultural economy in a drive to ensure growth included hundreds of millions of poor.
The Reserve Bank increased its overnight lending rate for the fifth time in a year on 31 January to a four-year high of 7.5% to help slow inflation to within its estimated range of 5% to 5.5% in the fiscal year ending 31 March.
India’s benchmark inflation rate held near a two-year high at 6.63% for the week ended 10 February.
Overseas investors sold a net Rs5.82 billion worth of stocks on 26 February, according to the latest information on the Securities & Exchange Board of India’s Web site.
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