Sensex soars over 400 pts, Nifty rules above 8,700 key mark after FM Jaitley unveils Union Budget 2017

The benchmark indices rallied in Wednesday's trade after the Finance Minister tabled the Union Budget 2017.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended the day 1.76 per cent higher at 28,141.64, gaining 485.68 points while the Nifty50 closed at a crucial level of 8,716.40, up 155.10 points.

The Nifty gained 1.81 per cent in todays trade.

Cheering Budget proposals of infusing Rs 10,000 crore in public sector banks and keeping long-term capital gains tax unchanged for the capital markets, the benchmark Sensex regained the 28,000-mark by soaring over 400 points at mid-session.

Shares of state-run banks such as SBI, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Syndicate bank led the market gains climbing up to 4 per cent as the government announced infusion of Rs 10,000 crore in public sector banks in the next fiscal.

Sentiments also got a boost after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed to bring down the fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent of GDP from 3.5 per cent.

Moreoever, proposal to further liberaise FDI policy too further uplifted trading sentiments, brokers said.

"No change in the capital gain tax, particularly long-term, in the Budget, cheered the investing fraterinity" said a Delhi-based NSE broker, Manoj Choraria. The government also kept the security transaction tax (STT) and other taxes for the capital markets unchanged.

Shares of Maruti, M&M, ITC and ICICI were the top performers on the 30-share index, gaining as much as 4.69 per cent.

Mid cap and small cap indices ended the day 1.77 per cent and 1.68 per cent higher.

Realty stocks surged up to 20 per cent today after the government announced infrastructure status to affordable housing to encourage investment in the segment and offered tax sops for developers sitting on completed unsold inventories.

At 3.00 PM, shares of DLF zoomed 7.81 per cent, Godrej Properties surged 5.43 per cent, HDIL jumped 5.2 per cent, Oberoi Realty (4.48 per cent) and Prestige Estates Projects (4 per cent) on BSE.

At closing, the BSE Realty sector was up by 4.83 per cent.

(with inputs from PTI)