Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Domestic stocks cracked in Tuesday’s trade, wiping out the entire gains registered in the previous session. The benchmarks fell sharply as early vote-counting trends showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP-led alliance was likely to win a majority, but the extent of the victory was not clear as its lead was narrower than predicted.
The 30-share BSE Sensex pack nosedived 6,126 points or 8.01 per cent to trade at 70,342, while the broader NSE Nifty index moved 1,936 points or 8.32 per cent down to 21,328 level. Such was the fall in the domestic bourses that around Rs 43.2 lakh crore of BSE market capitalisation (m-cap) was lost today.
“The steep fall is due to the results so far falling short of the exit polls which the market had discounted yesterday. If BJP doesn’t get a majority on its own there will be disappointment and this is getting reflected in the market. Also it is possible that Modi 3.O may not be as reform-oriented as the market expected and may turn more welfare- oriented,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Selling in select heavyweights such as Reliance Industries Ltd, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Larsen & Tourbro (L&T), ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, NTPC and Power Grid pulled the indices lower.
Investor wealth, as suggested by the BSE m-cap, dropped by Rs 43.23 lakh crore to Rs 382.68 lakh crore today compared with a valuation of Rs 425.91 lakh crore recorded during the previous session.
151 stocks hit 52-week low levels on BSE
As many as 151 stocks hit their 52-week low levels today. BSE 500 stocks such as Anupam Rasayan India, Atul Ltd, Can Fin Homes, Eureka Forbes, GMM Pfaudler, HDFC Life Insurance Company and IndiaMART Intermesh hit their respective one-year low levels. That said, 104 stocks touched their respective one-year highs today.
Market breadth weak: 3,457 stocks were in the red
The market breadth was weak today. Out of 3,824 stocks, 3,457 stocks were seen declining on BSE. 271 stocks were advancing, while 96 stocks remained unchanged.
