Sensex breaches 40,000 ahead of Budget presentation, Nifty tests 12,000

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Budget 2019 today at 11 am in Lok Sabha.

New Delhi: Market opened higher ahead of the Union Budget presentation amidst expectations that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will have a slew of measures which will support growth both in the short-term and the long-term.

The BSE Sensex jumped 112.43 points or 0.28 percent to 40,020.49 in early trade while the NSE Nifty edged higher by 30.15 points or 0.25 percent to 11,976.90.

Sitharaman will present the Budget 2019 today at 11 am in Lok Sabha.

Major gainers in the Sensex pack were IndusInd Bank, HUL, LT, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, Kotak Bank, RIL, Asian Paint, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, HCL and SBI, rising upto 1.08 percent. On the other hand major losers were Yes Bank, ONGC, Vedanta, NTPC, Tata Motors, Heromoto Corp, ITC, Axis Bank and Power grid, dropping upto 3.27 percent.

In the previous session on Thursday, the 30-scrip Sensex gained 68.81 points to finish at 39,908.06, while the Nifty settled at 11,946.75, after advancing by 30 points.

Meanwhile, broader Asian markets kept their gains on hopes of a possible rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve also supported domestic sentiment, and pending news on employment data from the United States. The MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inching higher to levels not seen since early May, a Reuters report said.

With Agency Inputs