NEW DELHI, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian markets crashed Tuesday as equities benchmark indices witnessed a sharp fall, officials said.
The slump was witnessed amid the counting of votes for the country's general elections.
Although the early trends showed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the lead, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the Congress party, could be ahead of what exit polls had predicted.
Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex and National Stock Exchange's Nifty 50 were down by 5 percent each after surging more than 3 percent each on Monday.
The Sensex fell more than 4,000 points to hit a low of 72,337 while the Nifty plummeted 1,200 points to hit a low of 22,000.
"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," V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist of Geojit Financial Services, was quoted in local media as having said.
Exit polls on Saturday predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for the third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the elections.
The counting of votes is underway across the country and by the evening final results are expected to pour in.
Meanwhile, the rupee dropped to as low as 83.48 against the U.S. dollar versus its previous close of 83.14. ■
