Shares of Praveg, a multibagger smallcap stock, rallied 5% after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced comprehensive development of tourist centres. Praveg recently received a work order for the development of tents at Agatti Island in Lakshadweep, known for its diverse aquatic life and vibrant festivals. With this addition, Praveg now has 9 properties in operation and 12 under development. The stock has more than doubled in the last year.

While it was an interim budget with no change in taxation laws and many other parts, for some sectors it was literally a full budget. The reason, the announcements made for them were pretty similar to what has been done in the past when a full budget is presented. So, when an announcement about fisheries, animal husbandry or rural housing is made, the companies in the whole chain will get impacted in a similar manner had these announcements been made in a full budget. From an perspective of investing what needs to be realized is that in the last couple of years, there has been an effort on the policy level that other parts of the rural economy which are not agricultural related get the boost. Given the fact that it is not an easy task to change the rural income matrix, it might take some time for them to get reflected in the bottomline and not every company in the chain would be able to do it also.

Yields on government bonds slumped after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pegged the gross and net market borrowing for FY25 at Rs 14.13 lakh crore and Rs 11.75 lakh crore, respectively. Most experts had pegged the gross market borrowing to be a little over Rs 15 lakh crore.

Adani Enterprises Q3 Results: The company's revenue from operations increased 6% YoY to Rs 28,336 crore in the reporting period, compared with Rs 26,612 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Consolidated EBIDTA for the quarter soared 89% to Rs 3,717 crore against Rs 1,968 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts had expected government capex to further increase by 10-15% for FY25. In FY24, the government had pegged a capex target of Rs 10 lakh crore. Of the total outlay for FY25, the government has allocated Rs 2.78 lakh crore for the road transport and highways ministry, and Rs 2.55 lakh crore for railways.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman's announcements on affordable housing and extension of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana failed to cheer realty stocks, which fell up to 3%. Among the top losers were Brigade Enterprises, Sobha, Prestige Estates. The Nifty Realty Index was down by 1.07%. In the 10-stock index, there were 9 declines. The lone gainer was Swan Energy.

Among the companies poised to benefit from the budget's focus on mid-income housing and tourism, Mahindra Holidays stands out as a potential multi-year tourism bet.

There were neither any shocks nor pleasant surprises in the interim Budget, with no myopic measures being announced. The government did not bow down to the populist measures in the election year and kept the tax regime unchanged but ensured fiscal prudence. The fiscal deficit is set at 5.1%, significantly lower than expected.

Shares of defence-related companies declined due to profit booking after the 2024 Interim Budget speech, which raised allocations for the defence sector. The total capital outlay for defence is now Rs 6.2 lakh crore, an increase of 4.4% from the FY24 budget. The government had previously increased the defence budget by 13.8% to Rs 5.94 lakh crore in FY24. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced a new scheme for strengthening deep-tech technologies for defence purposes.

For a large number of investors, volatility is something which is determined by what happened to the nifty by the end of the day and they associate it with decline in indices. But there is more to it, on Tuesday, because there was a decline, it might appear to be volatile. But the fact is on wednesday because Nifty and Sensex recovered and gained back the losses, these two days together make it a volatile market. The reason to bring this upfront is that when valuations are high and the market turns volatile, the cut on the individual stock prices can be much higher. So, if one is increasing the exposure to stock, it might be better to stick to large cap stocks as stronger balance sheets tend to weather the storm better and then perform when the market gets into bullish mode.

Indian equity markets gave up early gains to trade mostly flat on Thursday as the country's finance minister presented the interim budget without any major announcements, as expected, ahead of the country's general elections this year. Meanwhile, in today's trade, six Nifty50 stocks hit new 52-week highs. Here's a list:

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered her Budget speech, presenting the Interim Budget 2024-25 at Parliament on Thursday, February 1, a day after the commencement of the Budget Session. Here are some reactions from the stock market experts.

Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman announced the expansion of Nano DAP application on various crops in all agro-climatic zones. This is part of the initiatives by the Modi 2.0 government. Fertilizer stocks were weak, with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Fertilizer and Chemicals Travancore, Chambal Fertilizers & Chemicals, Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers, and Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals trading down. Coromandel International was among the gainers. Sitharaman also announced a strategy for achieving self-sufficiency in oil seeds. The Nifty remained positive, and the FM increased the capex allocation by 11.1%.

Shares of railway stocks dipped after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's interim budget presentation. The government plans to invest Rs 11.11 lakh crore in the rail sector for 2024-25, including converting 40,000 rail bogies to Vande Bharat standards and creating three rail connectivity corridors.

Budget 2024: "83 lakh self-help groups with 9 crore women are transforming the rural socio-economic landscape with empowerment and self-reliance. They are an inspiration to others. Their achievements will be recognized through honouring them. Buoyed by the success, it has been decided to enhance the target for Lakhpati Didi from 2 crore to 3 crore," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 1 crore households will receive 300 units of free electricity through the rooftop solar scheme. As a result, green energy stocks including IREDA and Websol Energy surged 5%. Suzlon Energy and Sterling and Wilson rose 4% and 2% respectively.

After the announcement, shares of Olectra Greentech surged 6.2% to Rs 1,849 on the BSE. Also, shares of JBM Auto and Cotton Greaves surged up to 5%.

A short buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with a decrease in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. Short buildup means more people are expecting the prices to go down and creating short positions. In Thursday’s trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh short positions. Here's the list:

Shares of railway stocks dipped after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's interim budget presentation. The government plans to invest Rs 11.11 lakh crore in the rail sector for 2024-25, including converting 40,000 rail bogies to Vande Bharat standards and creating three rail connectivity corridors.

A long buildup is when there is a rise in open interest and volumes along with an increase in the price of the underlying stock in the Futures and Options segment. The long buildup is the occurrence of a long (buying) trend in the share market. In Thursday's trading session, five stocks witnessed a build of fresh long positions. Here's the list:

The stock of Jupiter Wagons went up 1.46 per cent, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) (0.88 per cent) and Titagarh Rail Systems (0.71 per cent).

Net revenue from operation stood at Rs 4,901 crore up 20% YoY from Rs 4,069 crore reported in the year-ago period. On a sequential basis, it was up 7% over Rs 4,585 crore reported in Q2FY24.

India's largest passenger carmaker on Wednesday reported over 33% jump in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended December 2023 at Rs 3,206.8 crore vs Rs 2,406.1 crore reported in the year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter came in at Rs 33,512.8 crore vs Rs 29,251.1 crore a year ago, registering a 14.5% YoY growth.

The stock was trading with minor gains at the opening time and hit the day's high of Rs 1,430.45 on the NSE, up 0.84% over the Wednesday closing price.

The central bank stopped Paytm Payments bank from taking fresh deposits, facilitating credit and fund transfers after Feb. 29. This period will allow customers to unwind their deposits and transactions with Paytm Payments Bank and prevent a systemic impact, the source said.

There could be revenue and profitability implications in the medium to long term and that would be a key item to monitor.

Pidilite Industries is witnessing robust underlying volume growth across categories and geographies, in contrast to the trends seen in FMCG. The ongoing real estate boom has the potential to accelerate demand for the core adhesives that is Fevicol. Net-net, the company has levers to deliver sustained double-digit underlying volume growth, says Amit Agarwal of Kotak Securities.

The specialty chemicals maker reported a well-rounded 10.4% underlying volume growth and a strong operating margin for the last quarter. Standalone revenue grew 4.6% on year to Rs 28.3 billion, led by the strong underlying volume growth.

Shares of Paytm, owned by One 97 Communications, crashed 20% on BSE after the RBI directed Paytm Payments Bank to halt new credit and deposit operations. Jefferies, a global broking firm, downgraded Paytm and highlighted the impact on Paytm's wallet business and profitability of merchant payments. Macquarie's Suresh Ganapathy emphasized the regulatory issues faced by Paytm and the potential implications for revenue and profitability.

Sensex and Nifty opened higher ahead of the Interim Budget after US Fed Chair Jerome Powell dismissed hopes of rate reductions in March. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to focus on infrastructure and narrow the budget gap in the budget before the general election. Shares of Paytm plummeted 20% after the Indian central bank restricted Paytm Payments Bank. Nifty Auto, FMCG, Media, Pharma, and Oil & Gas opened higher, while Nifty Financial Services, IT, Metal, Realty, and Consumer Durables opened lower. Budget 2024 expectations include increased allocation for rail, roads, and other infrastructure projects.

Budget Day has always been a trendsetter for D-Street. The stock market witnesses its share of volatility in the run-up to the Budget as well as after the big event. This Budget is expected to be modest, without any surprises, due to its interim nature on account of an election year. Here's a snapshot of how the Nifty 50 has moved before and after the Interim Budget (Source: ETNOW)

Nifty opened weaker but soon regained energy to end with a gain.

Sensex rises 60 pts ahead of Interim Budget; Nifty near 21,750; Paytm tanks 20%, GCPL soars 9%; Tata Motors, M&M, NTPC are some of the other gainers in the morning trade.

RBI imposes restrictions on Paytm Payments Bank, leading to downgrades by brokerages like Jefferies. Jefferies cuts target price to Rs 500 per share, citing reputational risks. Macquarie highlights serious implications of RBI ban on Paytm's ability to retain customers and sell payment and loan products. Paytm clarifies that user deposits are not impacted, but wallet and merchant payments business will be affected. Founder Jefferies cuts Ebitda estimates by 45% and expects delayed profitability.

'Budget is all about assumptions': ET NOW's Nikunj Dalmia explains the key parameters you need to keep an eye on this budget.

Given that 2024 is an election-bound year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget for 2024-25 (April-March) at 11 AM today.

But if you look beyond the headline indices, February 1 could turn out to be a D-Day for a lot of stocks as the Modi government is likely to keep Centre's budget tilted towards capex spend from budgetary resources.

Asian shares faltered on Thursday after Wall Street took a late spill, while investors stuck to bets for sizable cuts in U.S. interest rates this year even if the kick off might now be a little later than first hoped.

Stocks that were in focus included names like L&T, which fell 4.22%, PB Fintech, which jumped 10.2%, and Voltas, whose shares increased 7.09% on Wednesday.

U.S. stocks tumbled on the last trading day in January after the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady while dashing hopes for interest rate cut as soon as March.

Brokers and analysts have turned bearish on the company with one report saying the central bank's decision would 'end the operations of Paytm Payments Bank'.

The Budget Day is highly anticipated as it forecasts the economic outlook of the Nation and its impact on the equity markets. The benchmark and Nifty indices have seen significant gains, indicating a bullish market. The Angel One Research team recommends buying stocks like MTNL, Petronet LNG, Shree Digvijay Cement Co, and Shriram Finance in the short to medium term.

“The RSI oscillator has again given a positive crossover implying a positive momentum. Traders can buy for a target of Rs 344-362 in the next 3-4 weeks,” Ruchit Jain, Lead Research, 5paisa.com, said.

The revenues for the quarter grew nearly 10% while the net profit rose 16.5%. Both the domestic and US markets reported double-digit growth in revenues. The operating margin (Ebitda margin) rose 140 bps to 28.1%. The company has been charting a strong growth trajectory in recent quarters leading to the stock gaining almost 40% in the past one year.

​​As of Dec 31, MF schemes held 3.15 crore shares compared to 1.78 crore in Sept 2023, according to Rupeevest. Schemes from Mirae Asset MF, Quant MF, and Nippon India MF are amongst the fund houses that added shares of Paytm in Dec.

The value of payments done via UPI in December was over ₹18.2 lakh crore, up from ₹12.8 lakh crore a year ago, according to the data from the National Payments Corporation of India.

Godrej Consumer's consolidated net profit rose 6% year-on-year to Rs 581 crore in the December quarter. Revenue from operations during the third quarter increased 2% year-on-year to Rs 3,660 crore.

IPO exits by private equity (PE) firms led to the aggregate tally decline. It also meant that 'volatile portfolio flows' were higher than 'durable FDI' flows during the period.

In the past 10 years in February, foreign investors have been buyers on six occasions and sellers on four. In the past two years, February has seen outflows.

In the first week of February, clients of these brokers must pay as much as 100% upfront margin for all new positions within the margin trading facility (MTF) in the cash segment in an attempt to discourage traders from taking excessive risks in the event of sharp swings.