Sensex, Nifty Plunge Nearly 6% As BJP Falls Short Of Majority
(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended deep in the red on Tuesday as trends showed BJP falling below the majority mark in the Lok Sabha elections, contradicting the exit polls.
After more than seven hours of vote counting, the NDA looked appeared nearing the 300-seat mark in the 543-member lower house of parliament.
However, the BJP did not clinch as wide a victory as expected, stoking concerns that a smaller majority will see Modi face more difficulty in doling out reforms and infrastructure spending.
On Saturday, the exit polls showed Narendra Modi's BJP winning over 350 seats and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) grabbing between 360 and 400 seats.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended the session down 4,389.73 points, or 5.74 percent, at 72,079.05, after having fallen to a low of 70,234.43 earlier.
The broader NSE Nifty index hit an intraday low of 21,281.45 before closing down 1,379.40 points, or 5.93 percent, at 21,884.50.
Adani Group stocks led losses, with Adani Enterprises and Adani Ports plunging 21.4 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
Power Grid Corp, Coal India, ONGC, Larsen & Toubro, SBI and NTPC slumped 12-16 percent.
Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank and Tata Steel lost 7-9 percent.
FMCG stocks rose on defensive buying, with Nestle India, Britannia Industries and Hindustan Unilever surging 3-6 percent. Tata Consumer Products added 1.7 percent and Hero MotoCorp rallied 3.2 percent.
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