Budget 2019: Sensex witnesses 665 Points Pre-Budget Rally Today

Budget 2019: As President Ram Nath Kovind kickstarted the much awaited Budget 2019 session today, in the closing bell the Sensex has jumped by 665.44 points lending a cheerful start to the Budget session. BSE Sensex on Thursday closed at a close to 2% higher mark at 36256.69 points while Nifty closed at 10830.95 points with a 179.15 points hike. All the sectoral indices ended in green to everyone’s cheer, and were primarily led by Energy, Metal, Bank, Auto, IT, Infra and FMCG. Experts are of the view that while the Sensex climb today can be attributed to a short cover due to F&O Expiry; however, a positive outlook towards the Bharatiya Janata Party’s last budget before Lok Sabha polls can be given the credit for this pre-budget rally. Presenting the Narendra Modi led NDA government’s report card, President Kovind spoke about a New India which has witnessed rural development like never before via electrification of over 2 crore homes, healthcare facilities to over 10 lakh people in a short span of four month, building of 9 crore toilets in the country, 6 crore gas connections provided to marginal families and so on. The President’s focus on rural and middle class upgradation hinted that something good can be expected from the Interim Budget 2019, that will be presented by Interim Finance Minister – Mr. Piyush Goyal tomorrow i.e. 1^st February 2019. Higher domestic savings followed by increased domestic consumption has always given impetus to domestic stock market. In recent times, the domestic equity market has rallied whenever a strong government push has come for the rural sector and the middle class. Apart from Interim Budget 2019 fuelling Sensex, a strengthened Rupee too improved the market sentiment when Rupee improved by 26 paise and opened at 70.86 against US Dollar. Another factor that could have amplified Sensex today, was SBI Research’s hint that the Modi government may meet its fiscal deficit target for the current financial year.