Stock markets fall sharply as early results show BJP may not win as many seats as predicted by exit polls.

The stock market in Mumbai was in for a rough morning as the Sensex and Nifty indices took a major hit, dropping over 5% in late morning trade. This was due to initial trends showing that the BJP, which was predicted to win a significant number of seats in exit polls, was actually winning fewer seats than expected.

The BSE Sensex, which is made up of 30 companies, fell by a whopping 3,311.87 points or 4.33%, while the NSE Nifty tumbled 1,102.55 points or 4.73%. As the morning progressed, the situation only worsened, with the BSE benchmark diving by 4,131.44 points or 5.40% and the Nifty slumping by 1,263.3 points or 5.43%.

Among the major companies on the Sensex, State Bank of India saw a significant drop of over 10%, while Power Grid and NTPC also took a hit of nearly 10%. Other major players like Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, and Reliance Industries also suffered losses.

The Election Commission data showed that the BJP-led NDA was leading in 280 seats, surpassing the majority mark, with the Congress also crossing the 100-mark in terms of leads. However, the Congress-led INDIA bloc was also putting up a good fight, leading in 200 seats, which was a much better performance than what was predicted in the exit polls.

On Monday, Foreign Institutional Investors made a significant investment of Rs 6,850.76 crore in equities, according to exchange data. In other global markets, Seoul, Tokyo, and Shanghai were trading lower while Hong Kong saw gains. In the US, the markets ended on a mixed note on Monday.

The global oil benchmark Brent crude saw a decline of 0.82% to USD 77.72 a barrel. This was in stark contrast to the previous day when the markets had seen a sharp jump after exit polls predicted a massive win for the BJP-led NDA in the Lok Sabha polls. The BSE benchmark had even reached a new closing peak of 76,468.78, marking its biggest single-day gain in three years.

The NSE Nifty also climbed significantly, finishing at 23,263.90, with a jump of 733.20 points or 3.25%. This was also its biggest single-day gain in three years. During the day, the barometer had even reached a record intra-day peak of 76,738.89, while the Nifty hit a new intra-day all-time high of 23,338.70.

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