Opening bell: Nifty may breach 9000 led by good Budget

The Indian market is expected to open in green with the SGX Nifty, an indicator of pre-market opening, trading at 8999, up 105 points around 7:50 hrs.

The market went on a rollercoaster ride on Budget day but managed to end the day with healthy gains with Sensex gaining more than 100 points and Nifty closing back above 8900.

Among global markets, in the US, stocks posted gains of 5 percent or more in February, despite closing modestly lower on Friday amid lackluster data and oil gains.

Asian stocks kicked off the week mostly higher as interest rate cut in China on Saturday offset a weaker finish on Wall Street on Friday. The People's Bank of China cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.35 percent and reduced the benchmark saving rate by a similar margin to 2.5 percent.

Kospi index opened up to a five-month high in early morning trade.

Nikkei was trading flat though dollar yen moved towards 119.8.

In the currency space, the euro trades around fresh one-month lows early in a subdued start to the week, while an interest rate cut in China over the weekend gives commodity currencies only a slight boost.

In commodities, Nymex crude trades below the USD 50 per barrel while Brent crude is steady above USD 62  per barrel.

From precious metals space, gold prices rise to USD 1215 an ounce but gains are capped given a steady dollar.

Back home, brokerages appear positive on the Budget with CLSA indicating it was a well-balanced Budget. Its faith of economic recovery stays intact. Barclays sees the Budget as a fine balance between economic recovery and structural long term reforms. Deutsche Equities sees the Budget as a pragmatic one given the constraints.

Petrol and diesel prices get expensive by over Rs 3 per litre. Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the government is not thinking of tweaking excise duty hikes on fuel and expects fuel prices to stabilise soon.

ITC was the top Nifty loser on Budget day as it brought no relief for the company. Budget hiked excise duty on cigarettes further. CLSA downgrades the stock to sell from buy and cuts EPS estimates by 5-10 percent over FY16-17.