Nifty Breaches 8,000 Ahead of Bihar Exit Poll Outcome

BSE Sensex and Nifty fell over 0.60 per cent on Thursday amid caution ahead of the outcome of exit poll results of Bihar election. The Sensex fell over 150 points while Nifty slipped to 7,981 before paring some losses in afternoon trade.

1) Banking and healthcare stocks led a broad-based decline. Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and Sun Pharma were down 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent.

2) Oil & gas heavyweight RIL and Cairn India also slipped after the US Fed chief on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of a rate hike next month. A rate hike in the US is likely to put further downward pressure on commodity prices that are at multi-year lows.

3) Metal stocks also came under pressure with Vedanta and Tata Steel falling nearly 2 per cent. Tata Steel reports earnings later in the day.

4) Select power sector stocks edged higher today. The Cabinet is likely to take up today the issue of tackling Rs 4.3 lakh crore loans of power distribution companies to bring down their liabilities. NTPC, Tata Power and Reliance Power edged higher.

5) Federal Reserve chairperson Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday pointed to a possible December interest rate "liftoff" but said rates would rise only slowly from then on to nurture the US economic recovery.

6) Analysts say that stocks and currencies of emerging markets could come under pressure if the Fed goes ahead with its rate hike in December.

7) However, in the near term, the outcome of the Bihar election would set the direction of Indian markets, say analysts. Nifty may slip to 7,850 if the outcome of Bihar assembly elections does not go in favour of the BJP, said market analyst Rajat Bose.

8) Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold in four out of the previous seven sessions, depriving markets of momentum, after they had been heavy net buyers in October.

9) The rupee slipped to 65.67/dollar today after Fed chief's comments pushed the dollar higher against major global currencies. The rupee had closed at 65.48/dollar on Wednesday.

10) Asian shares were mostly higher today with stock markets in China surging over 3 per cent.