Sensex closes 137 points higher, Nifty at 10,388 after BJP nears victory in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh assembly elections
BusinessToday.in Last Updated: December 18, 2017 | 17:09 IST 
The Sensex and Nifty closed higher in Monday's trade after Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP looked set to win key polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
While the Sensex closed 138 points or 0.41 percent higher at 33,601, the Nifty was up 0.54 percent or 55.50 points at 10,388 level.
On Nifty, 35 stocks advanced while 14 declined. M&M (2.71%), SBI (1.97 percent) and Sun Pharma (2.06 percent) were the top Sensex gainers in Monday's trade.
YES Bank (1.23%), Coal India (1.11%) and Infosys (0.79 percent) were the top losers on Sensex.
Earlier in the day, the Sensex and Nifty suffered a BJP defeat scare during early counting in election results but managed to recover lost ground after PM Narendra Modi-led ruling party made a comeback against Congress in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat election results.
The Sensex tumbled more than 700 points in the first 15 minutes of trade, hitting an intra day low of 32,595 but later recovered more than 1000 points to trade at 33,658, up 183 points from today's opening level of 33,364. The index hit an intra day low of 32,595 level after early trends showed Congress gaining ground in Gujarat.
In contrast to the exit polls where BJP was seen forming a majority government in Gujarat, Congress was winning at 82 seats against 96 seats falling on side of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led-BJP in Gujarat. But later the tally showed of 182 assembly seats in Gujarat, BJP was leading on 99 seats with Congress falling behind at 80 seats.
In Himachal Pradesh, of 68 Assembly seats, BJP was leading on 43 seats against 21 falling in Congress' favour.
Here are the key highlights, which affected the market today.
4:00 pm: While 150 stocks hit their 52-week highs on BSE, 88 fell to their 52 week lows.
3:45 pm: Auto and metal stocks led the recovery on BSE with their respective indexes rising 309 points and 254 points, respectively.
3: 30 pm: All 17 BSE sectoral indexes except realty and energy closed in the green.
2: 30 pm: Maruti Suzuki (Rs 560 cr), ICICI Bank (Rs 203 cr), Bharti Airtel (Rs 170 crore) post top turnover on BSE.
2:15 pm: Market breadth was positive with 1445 stocks closing higher against 1202 ending lower on BSE.
1:45 PM: Maruti Suzuki (Rs 560.41 cr), ICICI Bank (Rs 203.39 crore) and Bharti Airtel (Rs 170.57 crore) were top contributors in terms of turnover on the BSE.
1:30 pm: Mergers and acquisitions during the year till December 7, declined by 12% to $55.93 billion from $63.48 billion in 2016. The number of deals also fell to 1,375 from 1,381 a year ago.
1:00 pm: Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have exhausted 99% of their investment limit of Rs 1.9 lakh crore in central government bonds, but when it comes to state government bonds, the share is less than 17% of the permissible limit of Rs.30,000 crore, as of December 14.
12:45 pm: Sensex adds over 300 points in afternoon trade.12: 30 pm: The RBI says that "the slowing in growth could be over". It added that "structural changes that come with temporary disruptions can be growth-and-efficiency-augmenting in the medium to long term" and introduction of GST could impart a permanent upward push to growth through better tax compliance.
12:00 pm: The markets will remain range bound as there are no further triggers," said Kunj Bansal, executive director & CIO - equity, Centrum Wealth Management Ltd.
11:45 am: India's exports to China rise by 53% yoy to $1.24 billion and imports from China into India increase by 13.6% yoy in October 2017. Still India's trade deficit with China rose to $3.86 billion as China's exports base ($5.09 billion) to India is much larger.
11:30 am: Foreign investors invested over $30 billion (more than Rs 2 lakh crore) in the Indian capital markets in 2017. They invested in equities got over $8 billion (Rs 55,000 crore) in 2017, the highest in three years after Rs 20,500 crore in 2016 and Rs 17,800 crore in 2015. However, they invested Rs 1.5 lakh crore ($23 billion) in debt instruments after a net outflow of about Rs 43,600 crore in 2016.
11: 15 am: Forex reserves declined by $1.04 billion to $400.9 billion during the week ended 8 December 2017
11: 35 am: M&M, Ashok Leyland, Motherson Sumi and Maruti were the top gainers on the BSE auto index.
11:32 am: "This election in Gujarat is like a barometer gauge," said Christopher Wong, an FX strategist with Malayan Banking. "Fears of an upset election dissipated as Modi was set for a win"
11:30 am: PNB, SBI and Bank of Baroda were the top gainers on the BSE Bankex.
11:25 AM: "The verdict of Himachal and Gujarat state election will be the key trigger for the market this week. The cues from winter session (of Parliament) will also be closely followed. "Any deviation from exit polls could negatively impact the market sentiment in the near to medium term. Post election results, market will also look towards global cues and US tax reforms," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
11:10 AM: Rupee trims early losses, consolidates to 64.10 per dollar.
10:40 AM: Sensex adds over 250 points, Nifty trades at 10,422 with 39 components in the green.
10:16 am: Sensex trading 136 points higher at 33,599, Nifty rises 54 points to 10,388 level.
10:10 AM: Market would initially rejoice the victory when results are finally out by Monday but soon correction would resume. Only for a week the market will be active after which year end holiday mood will grip the whole world. The Parliament session will have some fireworks which the market will be watching. "The mood of the market will remain buoyant and stock specific movement will dominate the week but in general the wait and watch phase will continue," opined Jimeet Modi, CEO, Samco Securities.
10:07 AM: Market breadth is positive with 1,266 stocks rising against 791 falling on the BSE. 98 stocks are unchanged.
10:04 am: Adani Ports (1.95%), M&M (1.64%) and L&T (1.36%) are top Sensex gainers.
9:51 am: Adani Port jumps over 1 percent.
9: 33 am: Adani Enterprises slumps over 9 percent in morning trade.
9:30 am: BSE metals, PSU, bankex, IPO indices decline steeply at 9.22 a.m. with a loss of over 2 percent each
9: 25 am: Rupee drops sharply in early session, trades at 64.62 per dollar against the last close of 64.04.
9:20 am: In Asia, markets rose as investors expected that a plan to reduce corporate taxes in US would be passed soon.European markets closed lower as leaders agreed to start the second phase of brexit talks and on US developments.
Also H&M came out with below expected sales growth.US markets closed at record high as expectations of Republicans passing the tax bill increased. The lawmakers are expected to vote on this bill next week. The new proposed tax plan is expected to cut the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.
