Budget bloodbath: Market breadth hits 5-year low as STT hike triggers widespread rout
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Market breadth has hit at least a five-year low during Sunday’s budget session, with four out of every five BSE 500 stocks retreating. This marks the most widespread sell-off on a budget day since 2021, erasing gains across every sector except pharma and textiles.
The analysis is based on the common sample of stocks currently belonging to the BSE 500 Index and excludes interim budgets. While the Budgets of 2023 and 2024 also saw significant declines—with 62% and 68% of stocks falling, respectively—today’s bloodbath was far more systemic. The intensity was somewhat stark: Nearly 1% of stocks plunged over 10%, a level of carnage mirrored only in 2023.
Leading the decline was Hindustan Copper Ltd, which tumbled nearly 13%, followed by Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), which plummeted 12%. The sell-off was fueled by a perfect storm: A massive crash in precious metals and a sharp hike in the securities transaction tax (STT) on derivatives—futures from 0.02% to 0.05% and options from 0.1% to 0.15%. Other major casualties included IIFL Finance (10%) and Bharat Dynamics (9.8%).
Metal stocks came under sharp selling pressure after silver futures prices in global markets tumbled by more than 30% in a single session on Friday. Furthermore, 9% of the stocks dropped between 5% and10%, while around 70% of the constituents fell up to 5%. With this, around 20% of stocks managed to stay in the green, a sharp contrast to over 30% that typically held their heads above water during the last three budget sessions.
In the previous two budgets (2021 and 2022), over 60% of the stocks traded in green. Overall, the 30-scrip blue-chip index Sensex was down nearly 2% while the BSE 500 was down 2%. Investor
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