Indian markets on Thursday traded flat, with investors wary of the exit poll results expected later in the day. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex closes 27.19 points up at 28,929, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty ended at 8,927, 2.70 points up.
“Markets are trading very cautiously ahead of the exit poll results this evening. But a BJP win [in Uttar Pradesh] could take markets very close to a new high,” Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities, told mint. The Assembly election results will be declared on Saturday.
Maruti, Axis Bank, State Bank of India and Tata Motors were among the top gainers of the day on the BSE index, with all their shares increasing by more than 1%. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, GAIL India, Adani Ports and ONGC made the biggest losses in Thursday’s trading.
Dr Reddy’s shares plunged by 5.01% – touching a 31-month low – after the US Food and Drug Administration issued a notice to the company’s oncology formulation plant in Visakhapatnam with 13 favourable observations. BSE’s SmallCap and MidCap indices both fell marginally.
The Indian rupee traded at 66.84, down 0.2% from its closing value of 66.70 on Wednesday. Overall, Asian currencies traded low – South Korea’s won was down 0.81%; Taiwan’s dollar dropped by 0.24%; Indonesia’s rupiah fell by 0.15%; and Malaysia’s ringgit dropped by 0.11%.
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