The benchmark 30-share Sensex lost almost 610 points during early trading on Monday, a day after the state elections in Bihar saw the Nitish Kumar-led coalition defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies by a wide margin. The benchmark index, however, recovered later in the day to close at 26,121.40, down 144 points. While losses in select frontline stocks led to BSE’s Sensex ending the day in the red, broader market saw the mid-caps and small-caps registering gains.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended the day at 7,915.20, down 39.10 points.
“The market has been volatile with a negative bias as the Bihar election results influenced the sentiments of investors. This impact may be short lived as the market (Nifty) recovered from its low of 7,771 to close at 7,915. Going forward, the market is likely to focus on policy reforms and global events,” said Vinod Nair, head - fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Among the notable stocks, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Cipla, TCS and Wipro all lost ground, while the gainers included Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, Tata Steel and Reliance Industries.
The market breadth was positive with 1,484 stocks gaining ground, as against 1,132 decliners.
Rupee loses 68 paise The rupee fell about 1 per cent today to close at 66.44 a dollar – its lowest level in about six weeks, after strong U.S. non-farm payroll data led investors to believe that the Federal Reserve is on course for a rate increase in December. The rupee declined as low as 66.50 a dollar before recovering after state-run banks intervened on behalf of the central bank, dealers said.
The rupee could remain under pressure with the central bank not seen intervening aggressively, market participants said.
“The rupee is expected to depreciate further as it is overvalued now. Exports have contracted for 10 straight months, while the Fed is expected to hike rates in December. Any negative news from global or domestic front will put pressure on the rupee,” said Rupa Rege Nitsure, Group Chief Economist at L&T Finance Holdings. Yields on the 10-year benchmark government bond inched up 4 basis point to close the day at 7.73 per cent, the highest level since September 28.
