Nifty comfortably crosses 8,665; capital gains tax unaltered

The Indian stock markets recovered from their lows at the end of the Union Budget announcement, after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the capital gains tax rate remains unaltered, and the holding period for short term capital gains also remains unchanged. Nifty hit low of 8,537 and then recovered to trade above the 8,600 mark at 8,665 levels; whereas Sensex gained 308 points or 1.1 per cent, standing at 27,965 levels. Broader markets traded more or less in-line with the benchmarks.

Market breadth remained positive with 1,737 advances and 903 declines.

Meanwhile, realty sector surged by 2.92 per cent on hike in fund for infrastructural development announced in the budget. PSU Banks recovered 2.85 per cent; while fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) gained 2 per cent after ITC zoomed 3 per cent. IT sector lost the most with 2.1 per cent losses due to 2 per cent plus fall in HCL TECH, TCS and Tech Mahindra.