The domestic equity markets managed to break out of the tight range they had witnessed for past couple of sessions on Friday as the street saw some frenzied buying from investors post the budget announcement. Investors were seating on the sidelines from last few days to avoid carrying heavy positions ahead of the Union Budget. But as soon as the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee started opening his cards in budget speech the marketmen went frenzy for equities. The budget has brought lots of positive surprises for India Inc. Surcharge on corporate tax has been reduced to 7.5% from 10% while in a move to start rolling back stimulus packages the FM Pranab Mukherjee has hiked excise duty on non-petroleum products by 2%. The FM pegged the fiscal deficit at 5.5% during FY11. Besides this, market borrowing projection of Rs 345,000 crore for the next fiscal also boosted confidence among investors. There were positive takeaways for individuals as well. The government broadened the tax slabs by big margin for individual taxpayers in the budget. Meanwhile, the street ignored the below expected gross domestic product (GDP) number of 6% for the third quarter. ITC tumbled over six percent in trade following the FM's announcement of structural changes in the excise duty on cigarettes, cigars and cigarillos coupled with increase in rates. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex zoomed 175.35 points or 1.08% to finish at 16,429.55 while the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty soared 62.55 points or 1.29% to close at 4922.30. The Indian markets were closed on Monday on the occasion of festival Holi.

The US markets closed with modest gains on Monday and the major indices were able to touch their highest level in the last one month. Different buyouts filled fresh hopes of economic recovery in the markets, American International Group Inc agreed to sell its prized Asian life insurance business to Britain's Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion and a Japanese drugmaker said it was pursuing OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.  Stocks also rose on hope that European nations will announce a bailout deal to help Greece with its mounting debt problems. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.53 points, or 0.76%, to 10,403.79, its highest close since January 20. The broader S&P 500 index gained 11.22 points, or 1.02%, to 1,115.71, its best level since January. 21. While the Nasdaq closed higher by 35.31 points, or 1.58%, to 2,273.57.

Crude prices continued their decline on Monday amid mixed economic data and also due to the strength in dollar against the euro and a basket of other currencies. The euro fell against the dollar, led by a sharp sell-off in sterling and lingering uncertainty over a bailout for Greece. Crude for April delivery closed down by $1.32, or 1.66 percent, at $78.34 a barrel after trading in a range of $79.39 to $80.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, April Brent crude fell $1.16, or 1.5 percent, to $76.43 a barrel.

The Indian rupee closed higher on Friday on the back of advances in the local equity markets. The domestic currency made a good start supported by rise in the regional stock markets. The major booster for the currency came with a balanced budget that induced a rally in the equity markets and helping the rupee to cover all it losses of last couple of days, the slab widening of the direct tax raised expectations of boosting consumption. Finally the rupee closed at 46.13/14, 28 paise higher compared to its Thursday's close of 46.41.

The FII on Friday were the net sellers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 2402.10 crore against gross sell of Rs 2645.80 crore, while in the debt segment the gross purchase was of Rs 142.30 crore with gross sales of Rs 1065.10 crore.

The US markets closed with gains on Monday led by different buyout deals, the takeovers are seen as a sign of confidence in the economy. Also there was report of rise in personal spending. The Asian markets have made a mixed start and few of the indices are trading marginally in red. The domestic markets got a budget booster on the previous trading due to a budget on expected lines by the Finance Minister. The markets will trade after  an extended weekend, when the different industries got sufficient time to analyse the hits and misses and today some sector specific movement can been seen based on the budget proposals.