Sensex plunges 5.7% as BJP fails to win majority on its own
The HinduIndia’s S&P BSE Sensex suffered its sharpest fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, as the surprise outcome of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party being poised to fail to win a majority on its own in the just concluded Lok Sabha elections triggered frenzied selling that sent the key equity benchmark tumbling more than 8% intraday on Tuesday. “Stock markets have been expecting a complete majority for the BJP and a thumping victory for the NDA,” said Siddarth Bhamre, Head Research at Asit C Mehta Investment Interrmediates Ltd. “Exit polls too cemented the expectations. “The election results are showing a less than halfway mark for the current BJP government, pointing towards a coalition government,” said Yashovardhan Khemka, senior manager, Research and Analytics, Abans Holdings. Stating that Tuesday’s market move caught most of the participants on the wrong foot, especially the way the poll outcome had completely undermined the exit polls numbers, Sameet Chavan, Head Research, Technical and Derivatives - Angel One said: “in hindsight, we may call it a much-needed correction as it was overdue; but practically, exit polls have deceived us and raised the bar for the actual outcome.” “Since the expectations were built higher in the last six odd months, the market reacted dejectedly,” he added.