Markets extend post-Budget rally

The markets have extended their Fiday's post-Budget rally. The Sensex is quoting at 16648, higher by 230 points and the Nifty is at 4,989, up 67 points.

The US markets ended in green on Monday. The Dow Jones added 78 points at 10,404 and Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.5% to 2,273. And the Asian markets are flat in morning trades. The Hang Seng has dropped 158 points to 20,899 and the Nikkei is down two points at 10,170.

The auto stocks have build on their momentum post the budget. It may be recollected that the finance minister had increased the excise duties by 2 percentage points, which was in line with the market expectations. The leading gainers on the Sensex are Tata Motors (stronger by 7.3% at Rs 763), M&M (higher by 3.5% at Rs 1043) and ICICI Bank (up 2.8% at Rs 896).

Sterlite, Hindalco and Tata Steel are the other major gainers.

The top losers among the Sensex stocks are Sun Pharma (weaker by 1.4% at Rs 292) and Sun Pharma (down 0.3% at Rs 1535).

The market breadth is strong. Out of 1607 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1270 advancing stocs as against 302 declines.