Sensex, Nifty 50 Open in Red Even as NDA Takes Decisive Lead in Bihar Election Results

Indian stock market indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 opened lower amid volatility even as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took an early lead in the Bihar election results. Earlier, analysts had predicted that if the Nitish Kumar-led government lost power in the northern state, the indices could decline sharply in the near term.

However, early trends on Friday showed that out of 243 Assembly seats, the NDA was leading in 137, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan was ahead in just 68 seats. The majority mark is 122 in Bihar’s closely contested election.

At 9:15 am, the equity market opened on a muted note, with early trade showing mild weakness across frontline indices. The Sensex was down 319.52 points, or 0.38%, at 84,159.15, while the Nifty was down 95.75 points, or 0.37%, at 25,783.40.

“The market will be focused on the Bihar election outcome today. But the market reaction to the election results will be only temporary, whatever the results might be. The medium- to long-term trend of the market will be dictated by fundamentals, particularly earnings growth. On this front, there is room for optimism, as indicated by prospects of robust GDP growth and improving earnings,” said Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

He added that the Indian stock market’s underperformance this year is unlikely to persist.

“The dip in corporate earnings in FY25 and the elevated valuations have been weighing on the market this year. This market construct is set to change for the better going forward,” he said.

As the market traded flat, ONGC and Adani Enterprises led the Nifty 50 gainers with an increase of about 1.5% compared with Thursday’s closing price. They were followed by Adani Ports (1%), Eternal (formerly Zomato) at 0.92%, and Dr Reddy’s at 0.67%. Among the losers were Infosys (2.30%), TCS (1.43%), Tata Steel (1.40%), Eicher Motors (1.23%), and JSW Steel (1.20%).

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices posted modest gains of 0.12% and 0.04% respectively.

Sector-wise, the trend was mixed, with Nifty IT down 1.18%, Metals down 0.54%, and Nifty Chemicals down 0.49%. Meanwhile, Nifty PSU Bank rose 0.72%, Nifty Pharma was up 0.54%, and Nifty MidSmall Financial Services traded 0.65% higher.

Earlier, GIFT Nifty futures were at 25,870, up 0.2% from the previous close.

Yesterday, benchmark indices witnessed profit-booking at higher levels. The Nifty ended 3 points higher, while the Sensex gained 12 points. Among sectors, the infra index rose 0.50%, whereas the defence and digital indices were the biggest losers, shedding nearly 1%.

“Technically, after a promising uptrend rally, the market witnessed some profit-booking at higher levels. However, the short-term outlook remains positive,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research at Kotak Securities, adding that the 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) at 25,750/84,200 would act as a crucial support zone.

“As long as the market is trading above this level, the bullish momentum is likely to continue. On the higher side, 26,000/85,000 would act as an immediate resistance zone for the bulls. A successful breakout above 26,000/85,000 could push the market up to 26,100/85,300. On the flip side, if the market falls below the 20-day SMA at 25,750/84,200, it is likely to retest the levels of 25,650–25,600/84,000–83,700,” he added.

Foreign investors (FIIs/FPIs) were net sellers of Indian equities worth ₹384 crore on November 13, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) recorded strong net buying of ₹3,092 crore, provisional exchange data showed. DIIs purchased shares worth ₹16,036 crore and sold ₹12,944 crore, whereas FIIs bought ₹14,903 crore and offloaded ₹15,286 crore.

So far this year, FIIs have remained net sellers to the tune of ₹2.49 lakh crore, while DIIs have net invested ₹6.61 lakh crore.

Asian markets opened lower on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s sharp losses after concerns over delayed Federal Reserve rate cuts and stretched tech valuations dragged the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow to their steepest daily declines in more than a month.

The dollar struggled to recover from recent losses ahead of a backlog of US economic data expected to signal a weakening economy, while oil prices rose about one percent and gold headed for its best weekly gain in a month as uncertainty boosted safe-haven demand.