The key equity benchmarks ended near the day's high after a volatile session on Thursday. The Nifty managed to close above the 18,600 mark after hitting the day's low of 18,536.95 in early trade. Bank, media and metal stocks were in demand while pharma, healthcare and realty stocks witnessed a bit of a selling pressure. Bourses witnessed bouts of volatility on account of weekly index options expiry on the NSE. 

As per provisional closing data, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 160 points or 0.26% to 62,570.68. The Nifty 50 index added 48.85 points or 0.26% to 18,609.35. 

Investors cheered after early results from the recent polling held in Gujarat showed that incumbent BJP is likely to form government in the state, brightening prospects of the party retaining its power at the Centre in 2024. 

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index gained 0.43% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index advanced 0.32%. 

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1,870 shares rose and 1,619 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged. 

The votes polled in assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are being counted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) today, 08 December 2022. 

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 12 seats, while the Congress is leading in 15 seats in Himachal Pradesh, according to ECI. So far, the Congress has won 24 seats, the BJP has won 14 seats and the independent has won 3 in the 68-seat assembly state. 

Early trends point to a sweeping victory for the ruling BJP in Gujarat that has not lost an election in the state since 1995. The BJP was leading in 85 seats, while Congress was ahead in 9 and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was leading in 2 seats, according to early trends reported by ECI. So far, the BJP has won 73 seats, the Congress has won 7, AAP has won 2 seats and Others have won 4 seats in the 182-seat assembly state. 

The assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh were held in a single phase on 12 November 2022. The assembly elections in Gujarat were held in two phases - on 1st and 5th of December 2022. 

The Nifty Bank index rose 1.16% to 43,596.85. The index had declined 0.54% in the past two sessions. 

Bank of Baroda up 6.66%, Punjab National Bank up 4.24%,Axis Bank up 3.1%, Federal Bank up 2.8% and IndusInd Bank up 2.21% were the top gainers. 

Among the other gainers were Bandhan Bank up 2.07%, ICICI Bank up 1.14%, State Bank of India up 0.68%, IDFC First Bank up 0.59% and HDFC Bank up 0.55%. 

JSW Steel rose 0.78%. The steel major's standalone crude steel production in November 2022 stood at 16.90 lakh tonnes, registering a growth of 16% YoY. 

HCL Technologies shed 0.49%. The company announced a new collaboration with Intel Corporation and Mavenir to develop and provide scalable private 5G network solutions for communication service providers (CSP) and broader cross-vertical enterprises. 

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) added 1.42%. ONGC has signed a MoU with global petroleum giant Shell for cooperation in carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) studies. The MoU is aimed at developing carbon capture, utilisation and storage, or CCUS/carbon capture and storage (CCS) as an emissions mitigation tool for combating climate change and injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) for geological storage as well as enhanced oil production from mature fields of ONGC. 

Macrotech Developers gained 1.38%. The real estate developer said that it launched a qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue, consisting of an offer for sale to achieve minimum public shareholding. The floor price of the QIP issue is fixed at Rs 1,022.75 per equity share. The floor price is set at a discount of 4.17% to Wednesday's closing price of Rs 1,067.30 per share. 

Eveready Industries India jumped 4.98%. The company announced that its board has approved the appointment of Bibek Agarwala, as the chief financial officer (CFO) and key managerial personnel of the company with effect from 14 February 2022. 

Lumax Industries surged 4.77%. The company announced that its board has approved setting up greenfield project at Chakan, Pune (Maharashtra) with capital outlay up to Rs 175 crore for Phase 1. This project will cater to the new orders received from OEM customers for advance lighting solutions. The company said that capex will be funded by mix of debt and internal accruals and peak annualized turnover is expected of Rs 600 crore post commissioning. The project is expected to be commissioned by Q2 FY24. 

Dredging Corporation of India added 2.84%. The company announced that it has secured a reclamation dredging contract worth about Rs 60 crore from Numaligarh Refinery (NRL). 

Talbros Automotive Components surged 10.50%. The company said that it received a new multiyear order worth Rs 60 crore in the heat shield business from a passenger vehicle OEM in India.