Sensex Cracks Over 300 Points as Rail Freight Rates Hiked

The Sensex fell in the afternoon trades on Thursday owing to selling pressure in auto and capital goods stocks after the Railway Minister in the Budget called for hiking freight rates. The move can lead to increased costs for the companies going ahead.

 

The 50-share Nifty was trading below its important psychological level of 8,700 led by selling in blue chip stocks  like BHEL, Hindalco, Infosys, TCS, ITC and HUL.

 

Among a slew of measures announced in the Rail Budget, Mr Prabhu said that the Railway Ministry plans to invest Rs 8.5 lakh crore over next five years. He said that pension funds and multi-lateral banks have evinced interest of investments in Railways. He also announced that priority would be given to improve capacity on high density network in next five years. 

 

Indian Railways which is considered as the lifeline of Indian economy needs to undergo a makeover so that it can contribute to country's growth, analysts said.

 

Analysts interviewed by NDTV said that the Budget met their expectations.

 

Meanwhile, the railway stocks fell as much as 7 per cent in the afternoon deals. Stone India was the top loser from this sector. The stock slumped 8 per cent to Rs 78. Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman, Texmaco and Simplex Casting declined 3.5-5 per cent each.

 

Selling pressure was visible across the board. IT, healthcare, auto and consumer durables stocks were the worst hit in trades today. 

 

From the Nifty fifty basket of stocks 40 were declining. BHEL was the top loser, the stock fell 4 per cent to Rs 263. Bank of Baroda, Hindalco, Infosys, TCS, State Bank of India, ACC, ITC, HUL, HDFC Bank and Larsen & Toubro were also trading weaker by over 1 per cent each.

 

At 2:05 PM, the Sensex slipped 208 points to 28,800 and the Nifty fell 62 points to 8,705.