Mumbai: Wiping out early gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading nearly 328 points lower as selling pressure emerged soon after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley began his Budget speech.
After rising to 25,613.72 points at the outset, the Sensex slipped into negative zone by falling sharply 327.81 points, or 1.28 per cent to 25,117.00 at 1145 hrs. All the sectoral indices led by consumer durables, power, banking and capital goods sectors led decline. The Sensex thereafter showed some recovery.
The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty dipped below the 7,500 mark by plunging 102.10 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 7,482.90, after climbing to 7,626.85 at the outset.
Brokers said selling pressure emerged, dragging down the Sensex even as Budget proposed 49 per cent FDI in insurance through FIPB route, among other budgetary proposals.
Assuring investors that retrospective amendments to tax laws will be undertaken with extreme caution, Jaitley said all fresh cases arising out of the 2012 amendment of I-T Act will be looked into by a high level CBDT committee.
He also said public sector banks need Rs 2.40 lakh crore equity to conform with Basel-III norms by 2018. Bank capital is to be raised through retail sale of shares and government would continue to hold majority in PSU banks, he added.
Emergence of profit-booking in recent gainers also influenced the sentiments, brokers said.
Major losers were SBI (1.48 percent), Axis Bank (2.04 percent), Sesa Sterlite (3.10 percent), L&T (1.54 percent), Dr Reddy (0.97 percent), Cipla (1.25 percent), BHEL (2.42 per cent), RIL (0.90 percent) and Bharti Airtel (2.37 percent).
