Sensex, Nifty rally from early losses as BJP poll win becomes clear

The BSE Sensex and the NSE Nifty closed higher today on Monday as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was poised to comfortably win elections in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The rupee recovered from early losses, but was still trading marginally lower against the US dollar, while bond yield hit a fresh 16-month high.

The Sensex closed higher by 138.71 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 33,601.68, while the Nifty 50 rose 55.50 points, or 0.54 per cent, to close at 10,388.75.

All the sectoral indices on BSE, except realty and energy, ended higher, led by metal, which was up 1.83 per cent, and auto 1.21 per cent. On the Nifty, public sector banks rallied 2.38 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Sun Pharma and ICICI Bank were the major gainers reporting gains of around 2 per cent on the BSE. 

Earlier at around 3 pm, only six stocks had fallen while 24 stocks traded positive on the Sensex. Both the Sensex and Nifty held on to the gains.

The BSE metal index jumped 1.79 per cent. Jindal steel rose 5.79 per cent, Vedanta 3.29 per cent, Hindalco 2.68 per cent, Hindustan Zinc 1.91 per cent, SAIL by 1.47 per cent, and Tata Steel by 1.39 per cent.

This was in sharp contrast to the situation in the morning, when reports indicated strong electoral gains for the Congress party. Not a single stock rose in morning trading, with the Sensex losing 98 points to trade at 33,365 points and the Nifty losing 70 points to trade at 10,263 points. But things changed towards the afternoon as it became clear that the BJP was heading for a win in both states.

The rupee recovered some of its losses but was still trading marginally lower against the dollar. At 2 pm, the rupee was trading at 64.11 a dollar, down 0.11 per cent from its Friday's close of 64.05.

The 10-year bond yield was at 7.162 per cent, a level last seen on 3 August 2016, compared to its previous close of 7.134 per cent.

The market will be active only for another week, after which year-end holiday mood will grip the whole world, say analysts.