Budget 2020: Sensex plunges over 450 points, Nifty below 11,900 after Nirmala Sitharaman projects widening of fiscal deficit

Market benchmark Sensex plunged over 450 points in the afternoon session on Saturday after the Union Budget projected widening of fiscal deficit for the current financial year. The 30-share BSE index was trading 452.14 points, or 1.11 percent, lower at 40,271.35 at 1320 hours. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty cracked 111.70 or 0.93 percent, to 11,850.40.

#CNBCTV18Market | Major indices tumble as #Budget2020 speech concludes; Nifty now testing 11,750, private financials bogging market lower pic.twitter.com/ATaLOvSzbN

— CNBC-TV18 (@CNBCTV18Live) February 1, 2020

Sensex was trading over 150 points higher ahead of the Budget presentation. Presenting the Union Budget for 2020-21, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pegged the fiscal deficit at 3.8 percent in the current fiscal, compared to the earlier target of 3.3 percent of GDP. In her second Budget presentation, the finance minister said certain government securities will be open for foreign investors. She said the government plans to increase investment limit for FPIs in corporate bonds from 9 percent to 15 percent. Top losers in the Sensex pack included L&T, Tata Steel, ONGC, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank and SBI. However, HUL, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, TCS and UltraTech Cement were trading higher. The forex market remained closed for the weekend.