Stock Market Live: Indian equity indexes opened at record highs on Monday. The Nifty 50 rose 3.58 percent or 807.20 points to 23,337.70, while the Sensex rose 2,621.98 points or 3.55 percent to 76,583.30. Similarly, the Nifty Bank opened above the 50,000 mark for the first time in open trade after exit polls suggested a strong recovery for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government.
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Indian government bond yields edged lower on the back of rising investor sentiment after the exit polls. The benchmark 10-year government bond yield was at 6.9541%, following the previous close of 6.9809%. Earlier in the day, the yield had fallen to 6.9421%, its lowest since April 8, 2022.
Signalling a strong bullish trend in the equity market early today, GIFT Nifty rose 850.50 points or 3.75 per cent to 23,538.50 at opening trade.
The currency market also got off to a good start on the back of rising stock markets. In the first trading session of the week, the Indian rupee opened at 82.99 against the US dollar. On Friday, the Indian rupee closed at 82.46 against the US dollar. The Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the US dollar against six global currencies, fell 0.04% to 104.63.
According to analysts, stock market trading this week will be heavily influenced by two key events – the general election results to be announced on June 4 and the Reserve Bank of India’s interest rate decision to be announced by Governor Das on June 7.
Exit polls on Saturday projected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to retain power for a third consecutive term and the BJP-led NDA to win between 350 and 401 seats.
“Exit poll results have indicated a clear victory for the NDA by winning around 360 seats, which has completely removed the so-called election anxiety that was weighing on the markets in May. This will act as an impetus for the bulls and trigger a big bounce in the markets on Monday,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Better-than-expected GDP growth of 8.2% for fiscal 2024 will give further encouragement to the bulls, he said.
“All eyes are now on the most significant event in the last five years – the outcome of the Indian Lok Sabha elections scheduled for Tuesday. Ahead of that, market participants will react to the exit polls on Monday.”
“The market is approaching the elections cautiously. As most of the exit polls have given the NDA more than 350 seats, a positive surprise in the exit polls could lead to a rise in stock prices. Conversely, if the actual result is a negative surprise, it could trigger a knee-jerk reaction in the market,” said Santosh Meena, head of research at Swastika Investmart.
U.S. stock futures were subdued ahead of the first trading day of June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 574.84 points to close at 38,686.62, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.06 points to close at 16,735.01.
Wall Street had a strong May month, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rising 6.9%, its best month since November 2023.
-With input from PTI
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