Stock markets witness high volatility amid concern over voter turnout in election

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 8 : Indian stock markets experienced high volatility during Wednesday's trading session amid concerns about the decreasing voter turnout in the ongoing general elections in India. The volatility index VIX reached a 15-month high after increasing by more than 40 percent over the last month.
At the closing, Nifty remained unchanged and closed at 22,302.50, while the Sensex marginally declined by 45 points to close at 73,466.39.
"Three domestic factors are impacting Indian markets: anxiety on the National Elections outcome given low voter turnout and a lot of fake media claims that give unsubstantiated inferences; a mediocre and mundane earnings season with very few outperformers or guidance of shining future performance; profit booking behaviour that is normal near all-time high levels in markets. Given the Lok Sabha election results are to be announced on June 4th, this volatility will remain in place for the next 23 calendar days" said Ajay Bagga, Bankinh and market expert.
In the major NSE indices, the Nifty Bank declined by 264.25 points to close at 48,021, and Nifty Financial Services also plummeted by 115.15 points to 21,428.35. Meanwhile, the Nifty Next 50 index gained more than 1.3 percent and closed at 64,784.25 points, and Nifty Midcap also experienced a marginal gain of 82.60 points, closing at 10,925.80 points.
During the opening session, the markets opened in the red with significant selling pressure, and although stocks recovered during the day but they declined again by the time of closing.
"It was a very volatile market today with a negative opening and then a sharp recovery but to fall again. The main culprit is the volatility index, India VIX which was trading at around 12 not so long ago hit a high of 18 plus. Good news is there has been some fall now to around 17 levels. Most of the indices have done well today, PSU's leading the pack. IT continues to face pressures" said Vivek Karwa, Vridhi Investment.
Among the Nifty 50 list, 25 stocks closed in advance, while 24 stocks closed in decline, with 1 remaining unchanged.
"From a technical standpoint, the market continues to face selling pressure at higher levels after a slow start. On the daily chart, the index has formed a bearish candle, and after a long time, Nifty/Sensex has slipped below the 50-day SMA (Simple Moving Average). We believe that the short-term structure of the market is still on the weak side" said Shrikant Chouhan, Head equity research, Kotak Securities.
Out of the 2,697 stocks traded on Wednesday on National stock exchange, 1,479 closed in advance while 1108 stocks closed with decline and 110 remain unchanged.