Rail budget fails to cheer market; Sensex down 202 points

Besides a weak Asian trend and lower opening in Europe further influenced the trading sentiment, brokers said.

   

The BSE 30-share Sensex after hitting a new record high of 26,190.44 points in opening trade, retreated to 25,897.33, showing a fall of 202.75 points, or 0.77 percent.

   

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost 42.25 points, or 0.54 percent, to 7,744.90 after hitting its life-time high of 7,808.85.

   

Share prices of companies that cater to the railway sector came under pressure and tanked up to 12.15 percent despite important announcements made by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda in his maiden rail budget.

   

Major losers were Texmaco Rail, Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman, Kernex Micro, Commercial Eng., BEML, Stone India and Bartronics.

   

The government proposed in the rail budget to attract investment from domestic and foreign players in infrastructure.

   

Among BSE-30 shares, Sesa Sterlite fell 3.89 percent, Tata Steel by 1.31 percent, Hindalco by 0.95 percent, Larsen and Toubro by 1.29 percent, SBI 1.15 percent and Reliance Industries 1.31 percent, dragged down the Sensex.

   

Globally Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.10 percent, while Japan's Nikkei shed 0.14 percent. European markets opened in negative territory.

Source: Latest News from Business News

Railways awaits PM's nod for hike in passenger fare

I will discuss the fare issue with the Prime Minister. A decision will be taken after discussion with the PM," Gowda said.

Seeking a significant rise in gross budgetary support, Gowda, along with Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha and senior railway officials, met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday ahead of the budget to be presented in the first week of July.

The national transporter is facing a loss of about Rs 900 crore per month in passenger segment.

The Indian Railways had on May 16 announced a hike in both passenger fares and freight rates by 14.2 percent and 6.5 percent respectively. However, the hike notification was put on hold later in the day leaving the decision to the Railway Minister.

When asked about the outcomes of his meeting with Jaitley, Gowda said, “It was a fruitful meeting with the Finance Minister who suggested some measures which will be reflected in the rail budget. We have sought more budgetary support. There is a need for more funds for national projects.”

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