The benchmark indices traded near the flat line amid the ongoing Union Budget announcements by Finance Minister. The Nifty traded near the 24,500 level. Oil & gas shares declined for the third day in a row.

At 11:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 9.32 points or 0.01% to 80,511.40. The Nifty 50 index shed 8 points or 0.03% to 24,501.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index declined 0.27% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.02%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,799 shares rose and 1,859 shares fell. A total of 158 shares were unchanged.

Union Budget 2024:

Nirmala Sitharaman is presenting her seventh Union Budget, emphasizing the public's continued support for PM Modi, who has been reelected for a historic third term. She highlighted India’s strong economic growth and the movement of inflation towards the 4% target. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) will be extended for five years, benefiting over 800 million people.

The budget outlines nine key priorities for this year and the future, which includes, productivity and resilience in agriculture; employment and skilling; inclusive human resource development and social justice; manufacturing and services; urban development; energy security; infrastructure; innovation and research & development and next-generation reforms.

Further, a PM Package of five schemes aimed at enhancing employment and skilling has been announced, with an allocation of Rs 2 lakh crore. This year, Rs 1.48 lakh crore has been provisioned for education, employment, and skilling initiatives.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty Oil & Gas index declined 1.19% to 12,500.10. The index tumbled 4.54% in three trading sessions.

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (down 2.45%), Bharat Petroleum Corporation (down 1.41%), Castrol India (down 1.39%), Reliance Industries (down 1.04%), Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.84%), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (down 0.56%), Indraprastha Gas (down 0.43%), Aegis Logistics (down 0.3%) and Mahanagar Gas (down 0.08%) edged lower.

On the other hand, Adani Total Gas (up 1.34%),Gujarat State Petronet (up 1.22%) and Petronet LNG (up 0.75%) advanced.

Oil India shed 0.59%. The company informed that it has signed a contract with Dolphin Drilling, Norway for the hiring of the ‘Anchor Moored Semi-Submersible Drilling Unit Blackford Dolphin’ on 22 July 2024.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Coforge added 1.55%. The IT company’s consolidated net profit fell 40.45% to Rs 133.2 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared to Rs 223.7 crore in Q4 FY24. However, revenue from operations increased 1.79% to Rs 2,400.8 crore in Q1 FY25 as compared to Rs 2,358.5 crore reported in the preceding quarter same year. On year on year (YoY) basis, the IT firm’s net profit fell 19.41% while revenue grew 8.09% in Q1 FY25.

Suzlon Energy rallied 4.92% after the company’s consolidated net profit surged 200% to Rs 302 crore in Q1 FY25 from Rs 101 crore in Q1 FY24. Revenue jumped 50% to Rs 2,022 crore in Q1 FY25 as against Rs 1,351 crore in Q1 FY24.\

Global Markets:

Asian markets traded mixed on Tuesday. Investors will watch out for Singapore’s inflation data for June.

On Tuesday, Wall Street rally fueled by strong earnings reports from major tech companies. Taiwan's market, led by semiconductor stocks, snapped a five-day losing streak.

This surge follows gains on Monday in the US, where the S&P 500 rose over 1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.6%. Both indexes were recovering from their worst weekly performance since April. Investors seemed unfazed by the news of President Biden exiting the presidential race, instead focusing on upcoming earnings reports from tech giants Tesla and Alphabet. Both companies' stocks saw significant gains on Monday.