Lok Sabha Elections Results 2024: All eyes on stock markets as counting of votes to begin at 8 am

India's stock market will remain in focus on Tuesday, June 4, as the Election Commission has scheduled the counting of votes polled in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections 2024. The Dalal Street has drawn more attention following the record rally of benchmark indices a day before the election results.

In the backdrop of the exit polls that suggested a landslide victory for the coalition headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the market soared to all-time high on Monday.

The rally coincided with some of India's top listed entities surging to their lifetime highs. Reliance Industries Ltd, the largest company in terms of market capitalisation, soared 5.7% to hit a record high of ₹3,025 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The total market capitalisation of the company crossed ₹20 lakh crore.

Shares of State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest state-run lender, had spiked by nearly 10% during the intraday trading, pushing the bank's market cap above ₹8 lakh crore.

What exit polls predicted

The exit polls or the post-Lok Sabha election surveys, released on Saturday, projected the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to win a third-term with a brute mandate. The alliance, which is headed by Modi, was expected to win more than 350 seats – well above the halfway majority mark of 272 – as per the aggregate of major exit polls.

The Opposition bloc – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) – was predicted to be restricted at 140-160 seats.

If the actual results are in line with the exit poll outcome, the market may rally further, analysts said. The reason behind the surge is that investors favour continuity, rather than a likely disruption in the status quo on policy front if a new coalition forms the government, they opined.

A section of experts, however, felt that the market rally will be short-lived even if the actual election results are reflective of the exit polls. Investors would wait for the first 100 days to observe the direction in which the government is headed post elections, they suggested.