sensex performance: Sensex sees best Budget week in 10 years with 4,400-point rise

Mumbai: The Budget rally on Dalal Street continued for the fifth consecutive session on Friday, taking the Sensex past the 51k mark for the first time ever, but it closed below that level. With SBI, and HDFC Bank leading, the Sensex touched an all-time high of 51,073 points, before ending 117 points up at 50,732 — its highest ever closing level. On the NSE, the Nifty too crossed the 15k mark for the first time, but closed below that level at 14,924 with a 29-point gain.

Since February 1, the Sensex has added 4,446 points, or 9.6%. This is the highest gains in terms of both points and percentage for the index in one week after the Budget over the last 10 years. In terms of percentage gains, the 26% over one week after Manmohan Singh’s 1992 Budget tops the charts (see graphic).



The day’s gains in the Sensex, however, overshadowed the selling in small and midcap stocks. BSE data showed while the midcap index lost 0.9%, the smallcap one lost a marginal 0.3%. As a result, despite the Sensex closing with a slight gain of 0.2%, investors were left poorer by about Rs 14,000 crore with the BSE’s market capitalisation now at Rs 200.1 lakh crore. The RBI’s decision to maintain status quo on rates also did not have any impact on the market, brokers and dealers said.

According to HDFC Securities head (retail research) Deepak Jasani, the advance-decline ratio again ended in the negative, reflecting some profit-taking in midcaps, as the attention has shifted to largecaps lately. BSE data showed that compared to 1,289 stocks which closed higher, 1,688 stocks closed lower.