India’s benchmark Sensex and Nifty indices erased few gains but still closed 0.8% each higher, as investors turned cautious, ahead of the US Presidential Election today.
The BSE’s 30-share Sensex closed up 0.68% or 184.84 points higher at 27,458.99. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) 50-share Nifty rose 0.75% or 63.30 points to close at 8,497.05.
Earlier in intraday, the Sensex gained as much as 1.16% or 317 points to 27,591.15 while Nifty Index rose 1.2% or 102.10 points to 8535.85.
Among the Sensex gainers, Lupin gained 6.93%, the maximum gains in nine months, after the company said it has received establishment inspection report from US food and drug regulator for its Goa facility.
State Bank of India rose 4.06%, most gains in three months, ICICI Bank rose 3.36% ahead of its September quarter earnings.
Among the sectoral indices, BSE Healthcare was the top sectoral gainer up 1.9% followed by BSE Metal, Bankex and Realty which were up 1.94%, 1.7% and 1.5%, respectively. BSE Telecom sectoral index was the top loser, down 0.53%.
The gains in the local equity markets were also in line with the Asian markets as Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning the US presidential elections improved after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reiterated that the Democratic Party candidate Clinton didn’t commit a crime in her handling of emails as the US secretary of state.
“A Trump victory (will be) market disrupting,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Securities. “The monetary stance of the Fed is more important from the market perspective,” he said.
“The FOMC committee upgraded its assessment of inflation, which we had expected to happen at the December meeting. By choosing to do so this week, the committee clearly is signaling its view about the likelihood for action at its next meeting, consistent with our forecast,” Barclays Capital said in a November 1 note to its investors.
Last week, global markets corrected sharply after polls suggested a narrowing of the gap between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton after the FBI reopened a probe into her unauthorised e-mail server.
The S&P 500 Index closed lower for the ninth consecutive sessions while Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell for the seventh consecutive sessions.
“It is not likely to be a landslide one way or the other and adds to political and economic uncertainty,” said Jon Thorn, founder and director at the Singapore-based Indian Capital Fund. “The positions of the market players reflect that. They are less than fully invested.” A Clinton presidency seems to be the preferred choice for investors as she is a known personality.
There is deep uncertainty about what a Trump win might mean for US economic policy, free trade and geopolitics, said domestic brokerage Sharekhan in a note to clients.
Meanwhile the rupee yesterday closed marginally lower against the US dollar, tracking the losses in its Asian peers.
The rupee closed at 66.74 a dollar, down 0.04% from its previous close of 66.75. The home currency opened at 66.75 against the US dollar. So far this year, it has fallen 0.9%. Asian currencies closed lower as traders turned cautious ahead of the US presidential election. The Japanese yen was down 1.22%, Singapore dollar 0.44%, Philippines peso 0.37%, Malaysian ringgit 0.32%, Chinese renminbi 0.26%, Chinese offshore 0.18%, Indonesian rupiah 0.14% and Thai baht 0.13%. However, the South Korean won was up 0.04%
The benchmark 10-year government bond yield closed at 6.835% compared with Friday’s close of 6.841%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Foreign institutional investors have sold $719.80mn in debt and bought $6.67bn in equity till date this year.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.594, up 0.55% from its previous close of 97.065.