Share Market Today: Across-the-board selling dragged the broader markets lower Stock markets shed around 2 per cent to log their worst close in four weeks, as investors turned cautious a day ahead of assembly election results of five states.
The Sensex nosedived 713 points to end at 34,959, while the Nifty plunged to 10,488, down 205 points - or 1.9 per cent - from the previous close.
That marked the lowest closing levels recorded for both the benchmark indices since November 12.
Across-the-board selling, led by banking, financial services and energy stocks, dragged the broader markets lower.
Analysts say they expect short-term volatility to continue ahead of state election results.
Here are 10 things to know:Forty four stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index finished lower.Top laggards on the index were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and Bharti Airtel, finishing between 3.9 per cent and 6.1 per cent lower.Market breadth favoured the downside, with an advance-decline ratio of 1:4.
On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), 339 stocks ended higher while 1,382 finished lower; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 636 stocks advanced while 1,881 declined.The exit polls on Friday predicted a tight finish between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and a win for the opposition party in Rajasthan, news agency Press Trust of India reported.Exit poll results and US-China trade war worries pulled the markets lower, say analysts."Share market today reacted to global trade war and exit poll results.
But if the exit polls results turn out to be true, more correction in markets is on the cards," AK Prabhakar, head of research, IDBI Capital, told TheIndianSubcontinent.Kotak Mahindra Bank shares were the biggest drag on both the benchmark indices, after the private-sector lender said it moved court against the RBI's decision to disregard the issue of preference shares as a method to reduce promoter stake.Uday Kotak, the billionaire head of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has been asked by the RBI to lower his holding in the lender to 20 per cent by this year-end, and to 15 per cent by March 31, 2020.In commodity markets, Brent, the international benchmark for crude oil, rose around 0.7 per cent to trade above the $62-a-barrel mark.Meanwhile, foreign funds pulled out Rs 817.40 crore from the capital markets on a net basis on Friday, while net purchases by domestic institutional investors stood at Rs 242.56 crore, according to provisional data from the NSE.(With agency inputs)For the latest News Live Updates on Election Results from each assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan,Mizoram,Chhattisgarh,Telangana, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.