Nifty, Sensex close in red; agri stocks gain

After heavy volatility throughout the day, the market ended with major loses. The Sensex ended down 152.30 points or 0.7 percent at 23002 while the Nifty slipped 42.70 points or 0.6 percent at 6987.05.

Standard and Poor's retained its sovereign rating in India despite the government sticking to its fiscal deficit target in Monday's Budget as it waited for further improvement in public finances.

ONGC, BHEL, Maruti, Infosys were major losers while ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance, SBI and Dr Reddy's Labs were major gainers in the Sensex.

The market witnessed positive trade in the agriculture sector as the Union Budget speech by Arun Jaitley talked about Krishi Kalyan Cess of 0.5 percent on all taxable services effective from June one this year to fund farm initiatives.

It also proposed cut in excise duty on irrigation pumps and soil nutrients besides slashing import duty on cold storage related equipments.