India's stock market has displayed a modest increase on Monday. This followed an earlier dip in the session caused by uncertainty over the forthcoming general election results. The S&P BSE Sensex benchmark fell sharply to an intraday low of 71,866.01 before making a recovery to finish the session 111.66 points higher at 72,776.13, a 0.15 percent increase on the day.
The wider NSE Nifty index also saw a similar trend, closing up by 48.85 points at 22,104.05, a 0.22 percent rise, after having earlier dropped to 21,821.05. Union home minister Amit Shah, in an interview with NDTV, warned against directly associating the day's stock market fluctuations with the general elections. However, he did admit that certain rumors might have influenced this volatility.
He predicted that the market would likely experience a sharp rise after the election results are announced on June 4th. In a disappointing performance, Tata Motors saw an 8.3 percent drop, despite strong Q4 results. Other significant declines were seen in NTPC, Coal India, Shriram Finance, and BPCL, all of which fell between 1-2 percent.
However, it wasn't all bad news. Shares in pharmaceutical giant Cipla saw a significant rise of 6.1 percent after announcing an impressive 79 percent growth in quarterly net profit. Similarly, Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, HDFC Life, and Asian Paints all enjoyed increases of between 3-4 percent.
Investors are now focused on the forthcoming announcement of key US inflation data for April, as well as a much-anticipated speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, which could offer further insight into the Fed's proposed rate trajectory. In European trade, the dollar fell while gold prices also decreased by nearly 1 percent. Meanwhile, with an OPEC+ meeting on supply policy due, oil prices experienced a small increase.