Key Indian equity indices recover as polls favour BJP

Key indices of the Indian equities markets recovered on Monday after counting trends indicated a victory for BJP in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh during the late morning trade session.

The trend reversal happened after both the S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty took an early beating following reports of a possible BJP defeat in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state.

There has been an intra-day swing between the highest and lowest point of trade at the S&P BSE Sensex of over 800 points.

"Markets have opened in the negative as the initial results suggest a much narrower margin of victory for BJP in Gujarat. Till the final results are out markets could swing either way, and if it's confirmed that BJP has managed to win Gujarat with small but decent margins," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research for HDFC Securities.

At 10.20 a.m., the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded higher by 61.80 points or 0.60 per cent at 10,395.05 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 33,364.52 points, traded at 33,653.46 points -- up 190.49 points or 0.57 per cent -- from its previous close.

The Sensex touched a high of 33,703.51 points and a low of 32,595.63 points during the intra-day trade so far.

The BSE market breadth turned bullish as 1,378 stocks advanced against a decline of only 751 scrips.

"Equity markets have recovered on the back of polling leads which show a favourable position for BJP in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

--IANS

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