Finance
Budget 2026 | Stock Market Updates on Sunday, February 1, 2026: Indian equities markets concluded Sunday’s special session on a low note, as investors fled following the Budget 2026 announcement that raised the securities transaction tax (STT) on futures and options (F&O) by 50-150 percent.
During her Budget speech, FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that the STT on future trades will be increased from 0.02 percent to 0.05 percent. FM also proposed raising the STT on options premiums from 0.1% to 0. 15%.
In this backdrop, the BSE Sensex closed at 80,723, while the NSE Nifty50 closed at 24,825, down 495 points or 1.96 percent.
Earlier in the session, the Sensex sank to a low of 79,899.42, losing about 3,000 points intraday, and the Nifty50 dropped to a low of 24,572.
Broader markets also experienced considerable selling pressure. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined 2%, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 2.7%. The fear gauge — India VIX — increased by over 12%, indicating investor concern.
All sector indices fell, with the exception of the Nifty IT index. The Nifty PSU Bank index fell over 6%, followed by the Nifty Metal index (down 4%), the Nifty Bank, and the Nifty Financial Services indexes (down more than 2% apiece).
Among Nifty 50 equities, Bharat Electronics, Hindalco, and ONGC were the biggest losers, falling approximately 6% each. SBI, Adani Ports, Coal India, Jio Financial Services, Nestle India, ITC, and Tata Consumer Products were the remaining big laggards. On the positive side, Wipro, TCS, and Max Healthcare all concluded with increases of about 2%.
The overall market breadth was also extremely negative, with nearly two stocks losing for every gaining share on the NSE. On Budget Day, 2,073 NSE stocks closed down, while 1,057 rose.
Source: BS
