Taking Stock: Budget disappoints Dalal Street; Sensex down 1,547 pts, Nifty slips below 24,850

Market Today

• Nifty and Sensex fell sharply after STT hike on equity F&O trades in Budget.
• Broader indices fell more, with Nifty Midcap down 2.2% and Smallcap down 2.8%
• IT sector gained, but all other indices ended in the red; metal index shed 3.8%

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In a volatile Budget-day session on February 1, Indian equity indices ended on a weak note, with the Nifty slipping below the 24,600, intraday, after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Union Budget speech, announced a hike in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on equity F&O trading. 

Indian equity indices opened on a subdued note and traded rangebound in the first half. However, the announcement of an increase in STT on F&O trades dragged the Nifty to the day’s low of 24,571.75. Although the index recovered in mid-session but failed to sustain gains and eventually closed with heavy losses.

At close, the Sensex was down 1,546.84 points or 1.88 percent at 80,722.94, and the Nifty was down 495.20 points or 1.96 percent at 24,825.45.

Broader indices underperformed the benchmark indices, with the Nifty Midcap index falling 2.2 percent and the Nifty Smallcap index declining 2.8 percent.

Also Read - Budget 2026 brings major relief for NRIs: Investment limit doubled to 10%, TCS cut on overseas tours and education

Biggest Nifty lowers included ONGC, SBI, Hindalco Industries, Adani Ports, Bharat Electronics, while gainers were Wipro, TCS, Sun Pharma, Max Healthcare, Infosys.

Among sectors, except IT, all other indices ended in the red with metal index shed 3.8%, PSU Bank declined 4%, oil & gas slipped 2.7%, Capital Goods fell 3%.

Also Read - Budget 2026: Govt proposes safe harbour margin of 15.5% for IT sector; expands threshold from Rs 300 crore to Rs 2000 crore

Index	Prices	Change	Change%
Sensex	74,575.39	-1,459.03	-1.92%
Nifty 50	23,154.90	-484.25	-2.05%
Nifty Bank	53,761.40	-1,339.55	-2.43%

Nifty 50 23,154.90 -484.25 (-2.05%)

Fri, Mar 13, 2026

• 1D
• 5D
• 1M
• 3M
• 6M
• 1Y
• 2Y

Biggest Gainer	Prices	Change	Change%
TATA Cons. Prod	1,076.80	19.00	+1.80%

Biggest Loser	Prices	Change	Change%
Larsen	3,475.30	-244.20	-6.57%

Best Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty FMCG	48038.10	-151.05	-0.31%

Worst Sector	Prices	Change	Change%
Nifty Metal	11297.10	-566.80	-4.78%

In stock specific, BSE Limited shares down 7% on raising STT to 0.05, Easy Trip jump 2% after boost in Union Budget 2026, Paytm shares added 5% on UPI Scheme–Linked Incentive boost.

Also Read - Tax slabs unchanged in budget 2026, new act to roll out on April 1, ITR filing timeline to be staggered

Around 250 stocks touched their 52-week lows, including Clean Science, KPIT Technologies, Akzo Nobel, Godrej Properties, Premier Energies, ITC, Blue Jet, Poly Medicure, IEX, SBI Card, IRCTC, Exide Industries, Indian Hotels, Patanjali Foods, Concord Biotech, ACC, LT Technology, among others. Click to View More