Stocks markets continued their record-breaking show as BSE benchmark Sensex ended at new closing high of 23,551 and NSE Nifty at 7,014.25 in anticipation that exit polls later on Monday will show formation of a stable government at the Centre.
Intra-day, the Sensex rallied to an all-time high of 23,572.88, surpassing previous high of 23,048.49 and the Nifty touched 7,020.75, breaking the earlier high of 6,871.35.
Shares of refinery, power, auto, capital goods, banking, FMCG and metal firmed up sharply on good buying support from investors and operators. Consumer Durable, IT and Teck sectors also firmed up in line with other sectors. Healthcare, however, declined on mild selling.
The Sensex resumed higher at 23,031.11 and firmed up further to an all-time high of 23,572.88, before settling at 23,551.00, showing a sharp rise of 556.77 points or 2.42 per cent from its last weekend’s record closing of 22,994.23.
The NSE 50-share Nifty crossed 7,000 level for the first time in the history to touch 7,020.75. It finally ended at 7,014.25, showing a smart gain of 155.45 points or 2.27 per cent. It surpassed previous closing high of 6,858.80.
The rupee was trading at 59.8 levels against US dollar.
Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: “Positive sentiments in the global equities helped our local indices to trade strong.”
The nine-phase long Lok Sabha polls end today and the first set of exit polls are expected to be out soon.
Sentiments were boosted on account of strong capital inflows into the Indian equity market. Last Friday, a net Rs. 1,268.78 crore was pumped as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Most Asian stocks ended higher after Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly said the nation needs to adapt to a new normal” in the pace of economic growth.
Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Hong Kong and China finished higher in 0.43 per cent to 2.08 per cent range.
Indices in Japan, Singapore and Taiwan eased by 0.35 per cent to 0.91 per cent.
European stocks were trading mixed in their early trade with mining shares advancing after reports of a sector upgrade. Benchmark indices in the UK and Germany were up 0.19 per cent and 0.27 per cent respectively while France’s CAC was down 0.17 per cent.
Indications of a higher opening in US index futures was also the another factor driving the rise in overall sentiment.
Back home, major gainers from the Sensex pack were Coal India (7.04 per cent), HDFC Bank (4.59 per cent), Tata Motors (4.09 per cent), Hero Moto (4.01 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (3.99 per cent), ITC (3.86 per cent), Sesa Sterlite (3.38 per cent), Gail India (3.35 per cent) and SBI (3.27 per cent).
Larsen & Toubro (3.27 per cent), Reliance Industries (3.17 per cent), ONGC (3.06 per cent), NTPC (2.49 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (2.48 per cent) also notched up good gains.
However, Sun Pharma dropped 1.73 per cent and Cipla by 1.26 per cent.
“The market is moving upward mainly on the back of likely positive outcome on the day of Exit poll. However, such move in frontline and index stocks is increasing the valuation gap between mid-size stocks and frontline stocks,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head-Technical Research, Kotak Securities.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Oil&Gas rose by 3.07 per cent, followed by Power 2.98 per cent, Auto 2.88 per cent, Capital Goods 2.78 per cent and FMCG 2.53 per cent.
Bankex 2.50 per cent, Metal 2.36 per cent, Consumer Durables 1.93 per cent, Teck 1.26 per cent and IT 1.04 per cent ended in the gree while Healthcare dropped 0.81 per cent.
However, the market breadth turned marginally negative at closing as 1,440 stocks finished with losses, 1,408 stocks ended with gains while 165 ruled steady.
Total turnover rose further to Rs. 3,592.61 crore from Rs. 3,238.55 crore on last Friday.
