Markets staged a smart recovery after over 850 points fall as the BJP looked set to retain power in Gujarat , with the party winning 46 seats and leading in 53 others in the keenly-contested polls to the 182-member Assembly. The Congress, which had 61 seats in the outgoing Assembly, looked to have improved its tally this time as it has won 44 seats and is leading in 33 seats so far.

The 30-share BSE index hit a high of 33,801.90 and settled up 138.71 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 33,601.68, its highest closing since November 29 when it had closed at 33,602.76. The gauge gained 409.93 points in the previous two sessions after exit polls had predicted BJP win in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls.

The 50-share Nifty reclaimed the key 10,300-mark to close higher by 55.50 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 10,388.75, its highest closing since November 27. It moved between 10,074.80 and 10,443.55 intraday.

BJP’s poll performance a victory of PM’s policies:Click here to read more

Barring realty, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the positive zone. Among them, metal index gained the most by 1.83 per cent, followed by auto 1.21 per cent, consumer durables 0.94 per cent and healthcare 0.78 per cent. On the other hand, realty index was down 0.29 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were M&M (+2.71%), Sun Pharma (+2.06%), State Bank of India (+1.97%), Wipro (+1.9%) and ICICI Bank (+1.78%), while the major losers were YES Bank (-1.23%), Coal India (-1.11%), Infosys (-0.79%), ITC (-0.62%) and Kotak Bank (-0.53%).

Himachal Pradesh trends : Trends show BJP leading in 44 seats and Congress in 21 seats.

Election results in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh indicated a strong support for politics of good governance and development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said as trends showed that the BJP was inching towards victory in the two states.

Read more: Poll results approval of Modi govt policies

The BJP today said the poll trends in its favour indicated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity was intact in his home state Gujarat and it was on its way to form government with a “comfortable majority“.

“The markets will remain range bound as there are no further triggers,” said Kunj Bansal, executive director & CIO - equity, Centrum Wealth Management Ltd.

Early trends

Early trends indicated a neck and neck race in Gujarat, which gave slight jitters to BJP workers. But soon the BJP pulled ahead and the numbers began to conform with exit poll results.

The benchmark Sensex crashed by over 850 points and the NSE index Nifty nosedived by over 250 points after early trends of Gujarat Assembly election results showed Congress leading in PM Modi's hometown Vadnagar, sending shivers down investors' spine.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex crashed by 867.34 points to 32,595.63 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty slumped by 258.45 points to 10,074.80.

The Sensex opened at 33,364.52 against the previous close of 33,462.97 and touched the day's low of 32,595.63. Similarly, the Nifty opened at 10,263.40 against the previous close of 10,333.25 and touched the day's low of 10,074.80.

The rupee also tumbled 68 paise to 64.72 against the dollar in early trade as early trends indicated a neck and neck race in Gujarat, which gave slight jitters to BJP workers. But soon the BJP pulled ahead and the numbers began to conform with exit poll results.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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