Sensex falls 250 pts tracking negative cues from Asian markets; Nifty below 22,250

The low so far has raised apprehensions among about the majority with which the ruling party can win the elections.

From the Sensex pack, L&T, , , , M&M, and Titan opened lower, while Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, SBI, and ITC opened with gains.

Among individual stocks, JSW Energy rose nearly 6% in early trade after the firm reported a net profit of Rs 345 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2024, which was a 22% year-on-year (YoY) jump.

Air conditioning and engineering services provider Voltas shares declined 9% in early trade after the firm reported a 23% YoY decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 110.64 crore in Q4.

Meanwhile, on the sectoral front, financial Services fell 0.3%, and Nifty Realty dropped 0.9%. Conversely, Nifty Media, Metal, PSU Bank, and Oil & Gas sectors opened higher.

Expert View
"The pressure on the market now is due to the uncertainty regarding the election outcome. There is lots of speculation in the media regarding this and this has added to the uncertainty in the market," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

"The India VIX spiking 72% from the April lows indicates that high volatility will persist for some more time. It is important to understand that VIX is based on Nifty index options prices. The spike in VIX is due to rising volume of options trades. Many investors are buying put options to protect their portfolio in case of an unexpected election outcome," Vijayakumar added.

Global Markets
Asian stocks lacked direction on Wednesday. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.19%, weighed down partly by declines from mainland Chinese blue chips. However, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.52%.

Japan's Nikkei slumped about 1% as traders took profits following the previous session's 1.6% surge. U.S. stock futures were flat.

FII/DII Tracker
Foreign portfolio investors sold Indian shares worth Rs 3,669 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors bought a net of Rs 2,305 crore in stocks.

FPIs have been sellers in 20 of the last 25 sessions.

Oil Prices Fall
Oil prices fell in early Asian trading hours on Wednesday after market sources said that data from the American Petroleum Institute showed an increase in U.S. crude and fuel stockpiles, an indicator of weak demand.

Brent crude oil futures fell 21 cents, or 0.3%, to $82.95 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $78.25 a barrel.

Currency Watch
The Indian rupee rose 2 paise to 83.49 against the US dollar in early trade. The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major world currencies, increased 0.14% to 105.55 level.

(With inputs from agencies)
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)