The political drama that played out during the day was reflected in the stock markets as well. The Indian benchmark indices, after a volatile session which saw the market rising by as much as 1.9 per cent, ended the day down 1.1 per cent from their previous close. The BSE Sensex closed at 17173, down 189 points, while NSE Nifty closed at 5222, down 58 points.

Indian markets, which opened in the red on Tuesday following negative global cues, picked up as the UP election result numbers started pouring in. As the numbers started tilting in favour of the Samajwadi Party, the indices took a beating and fell steeply. “Congress winning in the state elections would have been welcome news for the markets since that would have ensured a smooth ride for the reforms initiated by the government at the centre,” said Ms. Shanu Goel, Senior Research Analyst with Bonanza Portfolio. The highest the Sensex touched during the day was 17691, while the day’s lowest was 17128.

Metal indices were the worst performing sector on Tuesday, down 3.8 per cent on the BSE. This decline was largely led by lowered estimates of China’s GDP growth rate. It is reported to be the lowest since 2004. This in turn led to drop in metal prices as China is the world’s major demand-driver of metals. The other sectors that fell more than the Sensex were power, consumer goods and oil and gas. BSE Bankex was down 1.1 per cent.

Among the Sensex 30 stocks, DFL, ITC, Infosys and Maruti were up, more than one per cent. Hindalco, Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel, Tata Power, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, BHEL, Tata Motors, RIL, L&T and Cipla were the top laggards, each down more than two per cent.

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