Gujarat polls: Sensex sinks over 600 points, Nifty falls 200 points

The Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was down by 600.51 points at around 9.20 a.m. on Monday morning, and was currently pegged at 32,862.46 points, while the National Index (Nifty) was reported to be down 200 points at 10,134.35 points as election leads in Gujarat indicated a tough fight for seats between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress Party.

It is being reported that out of 30 stocks, only one stock was green i.e. Cipla in early morning trade after getting tentative approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for HIV drug, Darunavir hydrate (75-800 mg).

The web site moneycontrol.com reported that 9.27 a.m. all sectoral indices were trading in red. Nifty Bank, Auto, Metal, Realty, IT and FMCG indices were also down one to three percent.

Top contributors to the Nifty dip included Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, IOC, ITC, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Vedanta and SBI, which were down two to five percent.

Currently, the BJP is leading in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, but by small margins.

The Indian rupee was also sharply lower by 25 paise to 64.29 against the US dollar in early trade, following weakness in equity markets. Further details are awaited.