The markets ended on a glum note on Friday after an initial surge following exit polls that predicted a Bharatiya Janata Party win in the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa. But at the closing time, the Sensex finished 17 points higher at 28,946.23 while the Nifty50 went up by 0.08% to end at 8,934.55.
In the morning, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex had jumped more than 146 points. However, both the Sensex and Nifty slipped into the red after investors were doubtful of the authenticity of exit polls. The markets again gained in the last leg of trading.
“[The] Market is largely expecting BJP to come to power in four states out of five. Because of that, the government in the Centre would have much better freedom to take decisions in the Rajya Sabha where they can really push for reforms very systematically,” Managing Director at KR Choksey Shares and Securities Deven Choksey told Mint.
Apart from a favourable exit poll forecast, the industrial production data for January, which is scheduled to be released later in the evening, had also initially upped the mood. But later, a possible interest rate hike by the United States Federal Reserve on March 15 impacted investors’ sentiment.
While information technology stocks made gains with Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd leading the charts after soaring 1% each. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd and Axis Bank Ltd pushed the financial stocks up. The share prices of the former jumped 1.63%, that of financial stocks rose 0.7%. On the National Stock Exchange, as many as 33 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high, while 25 touched a new 52-week low.
During the day, almost all the sectoral indices were trading in the green. Consumer durables, information technology, metal, realty, bank, capital goods and auto sectors, particularly, did very well. The BSE consumer durables sector index rose 0.73% while the IT index was up by 0.70%. Gains in the realty, power, oil and gas, metal made Nifty50 touch 8,950 during the early hours, reported the Economic Times.
However, non-banking finance companies registered losses. Shares of Manappuram Finance Ltd fell 2.5% while those of Muthoot Finance Ltd plummeted 4.2%. The drop in share prices came after the Reserve Bank of India on Thursday said NBFCs cannot issue more than Rs 20,000 in cash against gold loans.
The rupee had opened at 66.73 against the US dollar on Friday. During the morning trading hours, the home currency was at 66.72, down 0.01% from Thursday’s close of 66.72. Other Asian markets also opened on a positive note after overnight gains on the US bourses. Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.33%, while Shanghai Composite Index jumped 0.04%.
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