Markets bounce back as BJP takes lead in state polls

Mumbai: Stock markets today stabilised a bit after a crash earlier on as available leads showed the BJP having an upper hand in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls within two hours of counting of votes. Both Sensex and Nifty made good all their early losses and traded much higher. In fact, the BSE index was up 241 points whereas the Nifty barometer reclaimed the 10,400-mark.

Meanwhile, the BJP is leading in 83 Assembly seats and the Congress in 62, according to trends available so far for 150 seats in Gujarat. In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP is ahead in 36 seats while for the Congress, the figure is 21. The 30-share BSE Sensex bounced back to 33,703.51, up 240.54 points, or 0.71 percent.

The gauge rallied 409.93 points in the previous two sessions after exit polls had predicted BJP win in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. The 50-issue NSE Nifty, which had lost over 258 points in the opening trade, was higher by 77.85 points, or 0.75 percent, at 10,411.10 at 1000 hours.

The rupee recovering much of its lost ground against the dollar provided more support. Major gainers were M&M, Adani Ports, L&T, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI and Tata Steel, rising by up to 2.46 percent. Other Asian markets too were in a better shape, taking positive leads from record highs on Wall Street on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.39 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.53 percent. Shanghai Composite, however, was down.