The BSE Sensex cracked over 450 points on Friday, 5 July, dragged by power, oil and gas, metal and energy counters, after the Budget proposal of raising public shareholding threshold sparked fears of sufficient liquidity to absorb the additional float of shares.
Presenting the Union Budget for 2019-20, Finance Minster Nirmala Sitharaman said it was the right time to consider increasing minimum public shareholding from 25 percent to 35 per cent.
In a highly volatile session, the 30-share index was trading 458.94 points, or 1.15 percent. Similarly, the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 121.75 points or 1.02 percent, to 11,825.
The Sensex had reclaimed the 40,000-mark and the NSE Nifty inched closer to the 12,000-level in morning trade ahead of the Budget presentation.
Barring telecom, all sectoral indices on BSE were trading in the red.
Top losers in the Sensex pack included Yes Bank, NTPC, ONGC, TCS, Vedanta, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel, falling up to 5.40 percent.
On the other hand, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, HUL, Kotak Bank, SBI and Bajaj Finance rose up to 1.76 percent.
“While we need to await Sebi regulations regarding how much time will be given to these companies to meet with this minimum public shareholding norms, the overhang of this requirement of off-loading of promoter shareholding can have significant impact on the markets and the specific stocks.”Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Senior VP and Head of Research (Wealth), Centrum Broking
However, many PSUs have not yet been able to meet the 25 percent public shareholding norm.
“The regulator needs to provide sufficient time to meet this requirement so as not to over-flood the markets with stake sales by promoters,” Thunuguntla added.
The Budget also proposed rationalisation and streamlining of KYC norms for foreign portfolio investors to make them investor-friendly.
The rupee, meanwhile, witnessed a sharp recovery to trade at 68.50 against the US dollar.
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