Sitharaman's tax break ignites Sensex's animal spirit

The Sensex posted its biggest single-day jump in over a decade at 1,921 points and investors' wealth soared by a staggering Rs 6.8 lakh crore after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a surprise cut in corporate tax rates on Friday.

Markets roared back to life on Friday, with the Sensex posting its biggest single-day jump in over a decade at 1,921 points and investors' wealth soaring by a staggering Rs 6.8 lakh crore, after the Finance Minister delivered a surprise cut in corporate tax rates. 

Announcing the latest set of measures to jump-start flagging growth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman slashed the base corporate tax for existing companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after October 1, 2019, to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

Bulls took over the market soon after the announcements. 

The 30-share BSE Sensex soared 2,284.55 points to a peak of 38,378.02 intra-day, before settling 1,921.15 points or 5.32 per cent higher at 38,014.62. 

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty zoomed 569.40 points or 5.32 per cent to end at 11,274.20. 

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to Rs 145,37,378 crore, from Rs 138,54,439 crore on Thursday. 

Cash-market equity turnover on BSE and NSE nearly tripled to nearly Rs 90,000 crore, while derivatives turnover also zoomed to about Rs 2.4 lakh crore. 

Top gainers in the Sensex pack included Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance, SBI, M&M, HDFC Bank, HUL and L&T, rallying up to 12.52 per cent. 

On the other hand, PowerGrid, Infosys, TCS, NTPC and Tech Mahindra ended in the red, losing up to 2.39 per cent. 

"The new corporate tax reforms by the government is music to the investors' ears and will help to revive economic outlook in the coming quarters. FIIs now have a good reason to come back to India and this progressive step will stimulate consumption and ignite capex cycle. 

"Additionally, companies will get more elbow room to pass on benefits to customers, which in-turn will improve earnings visibility," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services. 

Devang Mehta, Head - Equity Advisory, Centrum Wealth Management, said, "Today's measures, without exaggeration, have revived the sagging economic situation and has reinfused the 'Josh' amongst the corporate and capital market fraternity." 

Sectorally, BSE auto, bankex, capital goods, consumer durables, finance, energy, oil and gas, metal and telecom indices rallied up to 9.85 per cent. 

Only IT and tech closed in the red, losing up to 1.09 per cent. 

The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices followed the benchmarks, surging up to 6.28 per cent. 

During the week, Sensex gained 629.63 points or 1.68 per cent, while the Nifty advanced 198.30 points or 1.79 per cent. 

Meanwhile, the rupee strengthened 29 paise to 71.04 against US dollar intra-day. 

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.64 per cent to USD 64.84 per barrel. 

On the global front, equities ticked higher amid optimism surrounding the US-China trade talks beginning next month. 

In Asia, Shanghai Composite Index, Nikkei and Kospi ended on a positive note, while Hang Seng settled in the red. 

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading higher in their respective early sessions.