Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: Infrastructure, defence shares tank as BJP still behind majority mark

Shares of defence and infrastructure companies witnessed heavy selling pressure in the morning trade on Tuesday after the vote-counting trends showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance winning less number of seats than exit polls have predicted. Early trends showed that NDA led on 295 seats at around 11.30 am (IST). On the other hand, INDIA was ahead in 227 seats.

Axis My India-India Today’s exit polls showed that the NDA is expected to bag 361-401 seats, while the INDIA bloc is expected to win 131-166 seats, and ‘Others’ to snatch 8-20 seats.

Reacting on the early trends, shares of defence majors including Hindustan Aeronautics was down 13.34% and Bharat Electronics was down 17.40%. Bharat Dynamics, Cochin Shipyard, BEML, Data Pattern and Paras Defence and Space also declined over 5% in the morning trade. The benchmark BSE Sensex retreated 4.15%, or 3,172 points, at 73,358 at around the same time.

Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro plunged nearly 8%. Shares of Reliance Infrastructure traded 9.09% lower at Rs 157.60. IRB Infrastructure, Ahluwalia Contracts and PNC Infratech were also down up to 10% in the morning trade.

Meanwhile, sentiments also remained down-beat as S&P Global Market Intelligence asserts that weak private consumption in India remains the largest concern, with rural demand still straggling to catch up, at a time when the country’s overall growth remains strong.

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, “The steep fall is due to the results so far falling short of the exit polls which the market had discounted yesterday. If the BJP doesn’t get a majority on its own there will be disappointment and this is getting reflected in the market. Also it is possible that Modi 3.0 may not be as reform-oriented as the market expected and may turn more welfare- oriented. This is getting reflected in the strength in FMCG stocks also.”