The BSE Sensex traded flat in late trade today after rising nearly 400 points in early session. The benchmark index swooned nearly 600 points today amid a tug of war between buyers and sellers.
Buyers waded into the markets as some traders saw the selloff in the past seven sessions as overdone. The Sensex had seen losses of nearly 1,500 points in the past seven sessions amid weak earnings from some companies and prospects of the BJP losing in the Delhi state elections.
The Sensex rose sharply in early session despite a heavy defeat for the BJP in Delhi state election. The Aam Aadmi Party led on 67 seats in the 70-seat Delhi assembly, according to the latest data. (Catch the latest trends here)
Analysts told NDTV that the win for the Aam Aadmi Party has been discounted by markets which are now looking ahead to the Budget.
“The news has got discounted; now, markets are looking up to the Budget… Markets have started looking ahead already,” said market expert Ajay Bagga.
Shrikant Chouhan, technical analyst at Kotak Securities, said the chances of markets rising from current levels are brighter now. The Nifty could consolidate at 8,470-8,600 levels in the near term and could hit 8800-8900 levels before the Budget, he said.
But if Nifty falls below 8,450 levels, it could see further correction, he added.
Other analysts said a victory for AAP in Delhi is unlikely to have any impact on the government’s reform agenda, which is closely tracked by investors.
Among the major Nifty losers, market heavyweights RIL and TCS fell over 2 per cent. Other major losers included Sun Pharma, HDFC and HCL Tech, each down over 2 per cent.
Banking stocks provided some support to the market. SBI and ICICI Bank were up over 2 per cent. Tata Motors rose over 3 per cent to be the biggest gainer among the Nifty stocks.
At 2:40 pm, the Sensex was up 60 points to 28,286 while Nifty rose 19 points to 8,545.