Sensex, Nifty end marginally higher ahead of Assembly poll results

Shares ended steady on Friday, posting small weekly gains, as investors anxiously await the results of state elections, which could boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi's chances of winning the 2019 general election.

Exit polls, which at times have been proven wrong, showed Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party in the lead but falling short of a majority to form a government in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial among the states that went to the polls. Actual results are due on Saturday.

The broader NSE Nifty closed up 7.55 points or 0.08 per cent at 8,934.55 while the benchmark Sensex 30 ended 0.06 per cent or 17.10 points higher at 28,946.23.

The BSE Sensex Next 50 and the BSE Midcap ended down.

Among the sectoral indices, there was selling pressure in metal, realty, power, oil and gas, energy, bank, utilities, health care, finance and FMCG counters.

Telecom, capital goods, consumer durables, Teck, IT, auto and industrials ended higher with gains of up to 0.87 per cent.

Top gainers on the Sensex included Bharti Airtel (+1.22%), Hero MotoCorp (+1.16%), L&T (+1.02%), TCS (+0.88%) and ONGC (0.87%).

ICICI Bank (-0.99%), PowerGrid (-0.88%), Bajaj Auto (-0.79%), NTPC (-0.76%), ITC (-0.59%) and Coal India (-0.52%) were the laggards.

On the Nifty, Bosch shares jumped 3.32 per cent to Rs 22,760.05. Infratel rose 1.26 per cent and YES Bank gained 1.13 per cent.

Exit polls showed BJP ahead of rivals in the Assembly elections in the country's most populous state.

Victory for Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, which is home to 220 million people, would boost his chances of winning the 2019 general election and underscore his popularity after he made himself the face of the party's campaign.

The likely victory means more number of legislators in the upper house for Modi where the ruling party doesn't have a majority, improving the government's chances of passing key reform bills.

The poll results, including in four other States, will be announced on Saturday. Exit polls, which at times have been proven wrong, showed Modi's BJP winning but falling short of a majority to form a government in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial among the states that went to the polls.

“Market is largely expecting BJP to come to power in four states out of five,” said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares and Securities.

“Because of that, the government in the centre would have much better freedom to take decisions in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) where they can really push for reforms very systematically.”

“The polls do give an edge to BJP but given the variation across polls, markets may still wait for final results for a clear direction,” Citi analysts wrote in a note.

Global markets

Stocks rose, the dollar was on track for its fifth week of gains and crude oil rebounded from recent lows on Friday ahead of closely watched US payrolls data which is expected to give the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates next week.

Non-farm payrolls probably increased by 190,000 jobs last month while employers boosted wages for workers, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

Shares of Euro zone banks rose nearly two percent to their highest in more than a year while BT Group jumped more than 4 percent after the telecoms giant after ending a two-year row with the UK regulator.

Futures on Wall Street were up 0.4 per cent.

Investors globally pumped money into stocks for the tenth straight week, according to the latest data from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and fund tracker EPFR.

The MSCI All-Country World index is less than a percent below all-time highs.

COMMENT NOW