Indian markets settled sharply lower with Sensex plunging over 500 points On Tuesday. Selling pressure was seen after the railway minister DV Sadananda Gowda made his maiden budget. Railway stocks were badly hit today. Texmaco Rail and Engineering plunged the most with fall of 19.84%, followed by BEML (5%), Titagarh Wagons (4.99%), Kalindee Rail Nirman (4.99%) and Kernex Microsystems (4.94%).
Increased passenger amenities, more safety measures, timely completion of projects and increased financial discipline were the main highlights of the Railway Budget. Realty, power and capital goods stocks witnessed a fall.
At the close, the benchmark 30-share index, BSE Sensex lost 517.97 points or 1.98% at 25,582.11 with 14 components posting drop. Meanwhile, the broad based NSE Nifty went down by 183.80 points or 2.36% at 7,603.35 with 27 components posting drop.
Top losers were BHEL (8.16%), NTPC (5.36%), Tata Power (5.04%) and Coal India (4.96%).
Top gainers were Sun Pharma (0.69%) and HDFC (0.48%).
The BSE Mid and small caps underperformed their larger counterparts declining -3.63% and -4.19% respectively.
The Realty index was at 1,945.73, down by 150.04 points or by 7.16%. The Power index was at 2,244.37, down by 152.63 points or by 6.37%. The Capital Goods index was at 15,919.93, down by 803.49 points or by 4.8%.
