INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Share Market Today: Across-the-board selling dragged the broader markets lower
Stock markets shed
around 2 per cent to log their worst close in four weeks, as investors turned cautious a day ahead of assembly election results of five
The Sensex nosedived 713 points to end at 34,959, while the Nifty plunged to 10,488, down 205 points - or 1.9 per cent - from the previous
That marked the lowest closing levels recorded for both the benchmark indices since November 12
Across-the-board selling, led by banking, financial services and energy stocks, dragged the broader markets lower
Analysts say they expect short-term volatility to continue ahead of state election results
Here are 10 things to know:Forty four stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index finished lower.Top laggards on the index were Kotak
Mahindra Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and Bharti Airtel, finishing between 3.9 per cent and 6.1
per cent lower.Market breadth favoured the downside, with an advance-decline ratio of 1:4
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 339 stocks ended higher while 1,382 finished lower; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 636 stocks advanced
while 1,881 declined.The exit polls on Friday predicted a tight finish between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and a win for the opposition party in Rajasthan, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Exit poll
results and US-China trade war worries pulled the markets lower, say analysts."Share market today reacted to global trade war and exit poll
But if the exit polls results turn out to be true, more correction in markets is on the cards," AK Prabhakar, head of research, IDBI
Capital, told TheIndianSubcontinent.Kotak Mahindra Bank shares were the biggest drag on both the benchmark indices, after the private-sector
lender said it moved court against the RBI's decision to disregard the issue of preference shares as a method to reduce promoter stake.Uday
Kotak, the billionaire head of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has been asked by the RBI to lower his holding in the lender to 20 per cent by this
year-end, and to 15 per cent by March 31, 2020.In commodity markets, Brent, the international benchmark for crude oil, rose around 0.7 per
cent to trade above the $62-a-barrel mark.Meanwhile, foreign funds pulled out Rs 817.40 crore from the capital markets on a net basis on
Friday, while net purchases by domestic institutional investors stood at Rs 242.56 crore, according to provisional data from the NSE.(With
agency inputs)For the latest News Live Updates on Election Results from each assembly constituency in Madhya
Pradesh,Rajasthan,Mizoram,Chhattisgarh,Telangana, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.
