Markets: Sensex closes 212 points higher, Nifty ends at 10,893 following interim Budget 2019
Telecom stocks gained on Friday after the Centre announced during the Budget presentation of creating 1 lakh digital villages in the next five years.
Indian benchmark indices on Friday lost some gains in late afternoon trade, hours after Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the interim Budget 2019.
The BSE Sensex, which rose nearly 521 points at the day’s high, closed 212 points higher at 36,469. The National Stock Exchange Nifty closed 62 points higher, at 10,893, after touching the day’s high at 10,983.
The top gainers on both the bourses were Hero Motorcorp, Maruti Suzuki, HCL Tech and Asian Paints. The stocks of Vedanta, Yes Bank and SBI performed poorly on the Sensex and Nifty50.
Telecom stocks gained on Friday after the Centre in the Budget announced it will create 1 lakh digital villages in the next five years. Entertainment stocks also performed better after the government announced single-window clearances for Indian filmmakers. The Centre also announced provisions for anti-camcording to control piracy.
Among key announcements, Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal proposed a full tax rebate for individual tax payers with annual income up to Rs 5 lakh, pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector and assured income support for farmers with small landholdings.
The Budget is an interim one, as 2019 is an election year. By convention, outgoing governments present an interim Budget of expenditure and receipts instead of a full one.