Equities tumble further: Sensex sheds 700 points, Nifty50 drops 200 points (Third Lead)

Equity markets fell further during the mid-afternoon trade session on Friday with the barometer Sensex of the BSE tumbling over 700 points and the Nifty50 over 200 points.

According to market observers, investors turned cautious following negative global cues and disappointment post Budget announcements on the reintroduction of the long-term capital gains (LTCG) tax.

In his Budget speech on Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed to tax LTCG on equities exceeding Rs 1 lakh at 10 per cent. This had infused huge volatility in the market on Thursday also.

On Friday, stocks of banking, capital goods, auto, consumer durables, oil and gas, and metals witnessed a huge sell-off.

Around 2.25 p.m., the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE traded at 35,196.60 points -- down 710.06 points or 1.98 per cent from its previous close.

The Sensex has so far touched a low of 35,738.13 points during the intra-day trade.

On the the National Stock Exchange, the wider Nifty50 declined by 211.75 points or 1.92 per cent to trade at 10,805.15 points.

"Select stocks saw a sell-off in the morning due to a combination of factors including reversal of fortunes for BJP in Rajasthan by-elections, weakness in global markets, rising interest rates locally and abroad, and its impact on equity markets, reaction to Budget provisions including the one related to LTCG and margin sales by brokers due to fall in stock prices," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS.

"Some traders and investors (including foreign institutional investors) seem to be unclear about the tax impact on sale of equity shares between February 1 and March 31, 2018 and are pre-empting the confusion by putting sale orders today itself," said Jasani.

On Thursday, the Nifty50 fell by 10.80 points or 0.10 per cent to 11,016.90 points, while the Sensex closed at 35,906.66 points -- down 58.36 points or 0.16 per cent.

--IANS

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