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Domestic bourses continued to trade in fine contour in afternoon session a day after the Union Budget proposed higher spending on infrastructure to boost economic growth and job creation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled a bigger Rs 39.45 lakh crore budget, with higher spending on highways to affordable housing with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. Sentiments were also upbeat as Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran has expressed hope that India would become a $5 trillion economy by FY26 or the next year. He added that gross domestic product (GDP) in dollar terms has already crossed $3 trillion. On the global front, Asian markets were trading higher as investors become less worried about the Federal Reserve's plans to tighten monetary policy.

Back home, prominent gains in stocks belonging from the Bankex, Consumer Durable and IT counters have contributed a lot towards positive milieu. However, the broader indices were also following the frontliners with gigantic gains of over 1% each. The overall market breadth on BSE is in the favour of advances which have thumped declines in the ratio of 2269: 992, while 105 shares remained unchanged.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 59493.52, up by 630.95 points or 1.07% after trading in a range of 59193.05 and 59536.53. There were 21 stocks advancing against 9 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.04%, while Small cap index was up by 1.46%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 1.94%, Consumer Durables up by 1.39%, IT up by 1.13%, TECK up by 0.99% and Healthcare was up by 0.91%, while there were no losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finserv up by 4.83%, Indusind Bank up by 4.73%, HCL Tech up by 3.31%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.26% and Axis Bank was up by 3.02%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.90%, Nestle down by 0.80%, Sun Pharma down by 0.74%, Tata Steel down by 0.54% and Maruti Suzuki was down by 0.52% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, IT industry body Nasscom has said that the Union Budget 2022 sets the tone for India's 'techade' and establishing the country as a global hub in terms of technology innovation. It said while there were certain areas that were left unaddressed like enabling clarifications to allow units in SEZs flexibility to adopt hybrid work model and taxing employees only when they sell the shares, overall this is a healthy budget with a focus towards the future.

The industry body said the government's sharp focus on technology-enabled development and aligned investments in key sectors like healthcare, fintech, education, infrastructure, R&D, start-ups, agriculture and manufacturing is a testament to India’s technology prowess and the capabilities of the Indian technology industry to provide a fillip to sectors across. It also said that the budget introduced measures ranging from taxation to investment to help boost the country's economic activities, digital governance, ease of doing business, ensuring job creation, and marking India’s transition to an inclusive digital economy.

It further said it is encouraged to see the government focusing on digital skilling to encourage continual skilling avenues, sustainability and employability through online training, programmes, and industry collaborations, as well as the establishment of skilling e-labs for simulated learning settings. These are positive moves toward making India a global talent powerhouse.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 17744.25, up by 167.40 points or 0.95% after trading in a range of 17674.80 and 17768.30. There were 33 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finserv up by 4.82%, Indusind Bank up by 4.68%, Bajaj Finance up by 3.43%, HCL Tech up by 3.37% and Kotak Mahindra Bank was up by 3.14%. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra down by 2.94%, Adani Ports down by 1.20%, Shree Cement down by 0.98%, Nestle down by 0.92% and Sun Pharma was down by 0.78% were the top losers.

Asian markets were trading higher, Nikkei 225 surged 455.12 points or 1.68% to 27,533.60 and Jakarta Composite soared 82.29 points or 1.24% to 6,713.44.

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