Sensex stages smart recovery after 800-point fall, Nifty near 10,400

NEW DELHI: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty on Monday staged a smart rebound after nosediving over 2 per cent in the morning trade.

Indices took a heavy beating on early Monday morning as vote count on Gujarat poll suggested that the ruling BJP was trailing in the PM Modi's home turf, sending shivers down investors' spine. However, as the vote count swung in BJP's favour, the domestic indices recouped losses and staged a recovery.

At 10.20, Sensex was trading 171 points higher at 33,634.10. The index swung in 1,100-point range in the first hour of trading. Nifty50, after testing 10,100 level in morning trade, was trading near 10,400 level.

Data showed that the BJP was leading Gujarat polls with over 100 seats. But that was not the case earlier.

At 9.15 am, the Opposition Congress was leading the vote count, with 85 seats. At that point in time, BJP was ahead only in 79 seats. BJP needs a total of 92 seats to retain power in Gujarat.

After the first hour of trading, M&M, Tata Steel, Adani Ports and HDFC Bank were trading 1.92 per cent, 1.81 per cent, 1.75 per cent and 1.33 per cent, higher. L&T, ICICI Bank, Asian Paints and SBI added up to 1 per cent. Power Grid, TCS and IndusInd Bank were trading lower.

Exit polls had suggested 114 seats for the BJP and 67 seats for the INC based using averages across various exit polls.

While the exit polls had predicted a clear win for BJP in Gujarat. brokerages such as Nomura India had cautioned that the track record of exit polls in predicting the final results has been mixed.

"The outcome of the state elections is likely to be viewed as a referendum on Prime Minister Modi’s performance and could have an impact on future economic policy," the brokerage said in a note.

At 01:39 am, the 30-share pack Sensex was trading 242 points higher at 33,705.40 with Mahindra & Mahindra (up 2.50 per cent) being the top gainer and Coal India (down 1 per cent) the worst laggard.

The broader Nifty50 index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was 84 points up at 10,417 with 38 constituents in the green and 12 in the red.