According to data available at 03:30 PM on Saturday, market benchmark SENSEX dropped 1,012.16 points to 39,748.53 in the afternoon trade; while NIFTY fell 373 pts to 11,661. This comes after the Union Budget 2020-21 was presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today. The government announced the removal of dividend distribution tax (DDT) at the dividend distributing company but retained tax at the hands of the dividend receiver.
ITC was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, tanking 6%, followed by HDFC, L&T, SBI, ICICI Bank and ONGC, which dropped over 3%.
On the other hand, TCS, HUL, Tech Mahindra and Infosys bucked the market trend to trade with marginal gains.
Earlier, in the opening benchmark, SENSEX had slumped over 200 points ahead of the release of Budget 2020-21.
In the previous session, Sensex settled 190.33 points, or 0.47%, lower at 40,723.49, after the Economic Survey suggested relaxing fiscal deficit target to boost growth from a decade low.
Negative cues from global markets amid concerns over China's coronavirus outbreak continued to weigh on investor sentiment here, traders said.
Benchmarks on Wall Street ended with sharp losses on Friday.
