Share Market: Indices Bleed On Election Uncertainty; Sensex About 4,400 Points Down, Nifty Ends Over 5% Lower

The polls predicted the NDA alliance to win the elections with an easy margin of 300 to 350 seats, however, around market closing, the election trends showed the alliance leading with only 290 seats

Share market today: The stock market on Tuesday witnessed a blood bath as the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 trends contradicted the result of the exit polls released over the weekend. The election trends during the day indicated a lead for PM Modi’s BJP-led NDA alliance, however, the margin of the victory fell majorly in comparison to the pollsters’ projections. 

The polls predicted the NDA alliance to win the elections with a comfortable margin of 300 to 350 seats, however, around market closing time, the election trends showed the NDA alliance leading with around 290 seats. The INDIA alliance completely turned the projections around and emerged with a seat tally of around 225 seats in the trends.

This severely impacted investors’ sentiments in the market and led to a free fall in the key equity benchmark indices. As the market closed for the day, the S&P BSE Sensex settled at 72,079.05, tanking nearly 4,400 points and about 6 per cent in the session. The NSE Nifty50 ended trading under the 22k mark at 21,995.85, plunging more than 1,250 points or almost 5.50 per cent.

The Sensex reached a low of 70,234.43 during the session, while the Nifty hit a low level of 21,281.45.

Stock update

On the 30-share Sensex platform, NTPC dominated the losses and tanked 14.79 per cent during the session. Other major laggards included SBI, L&T, PowerGrid, Tata Steel, and IndusInd Bank. Hindustan Unilever, Nestle, TCS, HCL Tech, Asian Paints, and Sun Pharma remained the only exceptions on the index and ended the day in green.

On the Nifty, Adani Group posted the maximum losses as its listed entities took a nosedive during the session. Adani Ports stood 21.40 per cent down when markets closed, while Adani Enterprises, the flagship firm of the conglomerate, bled more than 19 per cent in the session.

Sectoral Update

In the broader markets, the indices closed trading entirely in red. The Nifty Smallcap 100 index bled more than 8 per cent in the session, while the Midcap 100 and Midcap 50 indices plunged 7.88 per cent and 7.76 per cent respectively.

Sectorwise, the Nifty FMCG index remained the only exception and settled in green. Among the laggards, the Nifty PSU Bank led the losses and ended more than 15 per cent lower. The Nifty Oil & Gas and Metal indices followed with losses of 11.80 per cent and 10.63 per cent respectively.