FINAL TRADE: Bears growl! Sensex nosedives 4,390 pts, Nifty gives up 21,900 ahead of Lok Sabha poll results

Stock market today: Tuesday's (June 4) session belonged to the bears as the markets saw heavy selling across all sectors barring the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) pack ahead of Lok Sabha poll results due later today. Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty tanked nearly six per cent on Tuesday as the trend showed BJP winning lesser number of seats than predicted in exit polls.

At close, the 30-share BSE Sensex nosedived 4,389.73 points or 5.74 per cent to settle at 72,079.05 while the NSE Nifty sank 1,379.4 points or 5.93 per cent to 21,884.5.

Among the Nifty companies, 37 stocks were declining while 13 stocks were advancing. Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, ONGC, NTPC, and Coal India were the top decliners in the Nifty 50 universe while Hindustan Unilever, Britannia, Nestle India, Hero MotoCop, and Tata Consumer Products led the gains.

"The unexpected outcome of the general election sparked a wave of fear selling in the domestic market, reversing the recent substantial rally. Despite this, the market maintains its expectation of stability within the coalition, led by BJP as the major election winner, thereby mitigating substantial downside in the medium-term," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said. 

"This is likely to lead to a major shift in political policy with a focus on social economics, which will have a positive effect on the rural economy. Alongside, the sectors that have topped in the past five years, including power, capital goods, real estate, and industrials, are advised to exercise caution in the near term. Nevertheless, the long-term growth prospects for these sectors remain robust," he added. 

Amid heavy sell-off, the high-beta Nifty Bank index, whose 12 constituents include SBI, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank crashed 7.95 per cent or 4,051.35 points to close at 46,928.6. The index logged its worst intraday fall (46,077.85) in the last four years.

Nifty Realty dropped 9.62 per cent, Nifty Infrastructure declined 10.59 per cent, while oil and gas stocks (Nifty Oil & Gas) lost 11.8 per cent and state-run companies Nifty PSE and public-sector banks (Nifty PSU Bank) retreated 16.38 per cent, and 15.14 per cent, respectively.

The domestically focussed Nifty SmallCap100 and Nifty MidCap100 shed 8.23 per cent and 7.88 per cent respectively.

In addition, Investor wealth, as suggested by the BSE market capitalisation, dropped by Rs 30.6 lakh crore to Rs 395.31 crore today compared with a valuation of Rs 425.91 lakh crore recorded during the previous session.

Global Market 

European shares slipped on Tuesday as weakness in crude prices dragged energy stocks. Last seen, the continent-wide STOXX 600 was down 0.77 per cent, snapping a three-day winning streak.

Catch all the latest updates on the counting of votes for Lok Sabha, state Assembly and bye elections here