Budget Day May See Stock Market Swing in 4% Range

Retail investors, high net worth individuals (HNIs) and proprietary traders have created derivatives positions that indicate that the stock markets could move within a 4% range on Saturday, the day finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the budget for fiscal year 2025-26.

- Ram Sahgal

MUMBAI:

The positions were created on a day the markets rose for the fourth straight session. On Friday, the Nifty50 settled 1.11% higher at 23,508.4 points while the Sensex ended 0.97% higher at 77,500.57.

Broader markets like the Nifty Midcap 150 and the Nifty Smallcap 250 outperformed, rising 1.7% each amid optimism that Sitharaman would announce some form of stimulus or tax breaks for low and middle-income taxpayers who have been singed by poor wage growth and high inflation.

Markets will also keep a close watch on announcements to boost economic growth, which at an estimated 6.4% for the current fiscal is much slower than 8.2% in FY24. If the markets move per the positions created by these investors and traders, the Nifty and Sensex could test their 200-day simple moving averages (SMA), which they trade below currently.