India elections, South Korea CPI
A woman walks past Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) office in Mumbai, India, 18 July, 2022.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
India stocks tumbled Tuesday in volatile trading, leading Asia markets lower as the country continued vote counting for its 2024 general election.
The Nifty 50 index fell about 5% and the BSE Sensex dropped more than 5%, as early projections suggested a closer-than-expected contest between the BJP-led NDA and the Congress-led I.N.D.I.A bloc.
Both benchmarks were close to giving up this year’s gains by afternoon trade. The Nifty rose more than 20% last year, while the Sensex was up nearly 19% in 2023.
The benchmark indexes had hit record highs on Monday after local exit polls over the weekend suggested Prime Minister Narendra Modi would win a rare third consecutive term in office with a thumping majority.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.22% to close at 38,837.46, while the broader Topix ended 0.38% down at 2,787.48.
South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.76% to end at 2,662.10 and the smaller-cap Kosdaq closed 0.13% higher at 845.84.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.12% higher, while the CSI 300 index added 0.75% to close at 3,615.67.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was down 0.31% closing at 7,737.10.
