Sensex soared 616 points in opening trade today

The BJP's landslide victory in UP and Uttarakhand worked wonders for the market as the Nifty hit an all-time high of 9,123 and the Sensex soared 616 points in opening trade today after a gush of capital inflows.

What made mood more buoyant was better than expected industrial output numbers. IIP (index of industrial production) in January bounced back by expanding 2.7 per cent year-on-year. All sectoral indices led by bank, capital goods and realty were in the positive zone with gains up to 2.20 per cent.

The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 188.20 points, or 2.10 per cent, to record an all-time high of 9,122.75 intra-day, surpassing its previous corresponding figure of 9,119.20 on March 4, 2015.

The 30-share Sensex too zoomed 615.70 points, or 2.12 per cent, to trade at 29,561.93, a level last seen on March 4, 2015. The gauge had gained 44.29 points in the



past two sessions. Markets were shut yesterday on account of Holi.

Sentiment turned extremely bullish as the BJP's huge victory in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand is seen as giving a fillip to the government's reform agenda, which triggered a flurry of buying by participants, including foreign and domestic institutional investors.

Besides, expectations of more liquidity in bourses had a positive impact, traders added. Sectorally, the BSE bank index gained the most, rising 2.20 per cent, followed by capital goods 2.10 per cent and realty by 1.61 per cent.

In rest of Asia, Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng were up while Japan's Nikkei dropped in early trade today as investors look ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.10 per cent yesterday.