Market off record high levels; Nifty slips below 7,000

RIL, ITC and HDFC twins among the top gainers

Markets edged higher in early noon deals to record highs as the hope of a stable pro-business and reform oriented government being elected to power, kept markets in euphoric mood.

At 2:30PM , the Sensex was up 476 points at 23,470 and the Nifty surged 134 points to 6,993 levels after hitting an intra-day high of 7,011.

Broader markets too were resilient with the midcap index up 1% and the smallcap index added 0.7%.

Except Health Care index which was down 1%, all the other sectoral indices were in the green with banks and realty indices up nearly 2.5% each.

Capital Goods, Power, Oil & Gas, Consumer Durables, Auto and Metal indices gained 2-2.3%.

Pharma majors Sun Pharma, Cipla and IT heavyweights, Wipro and TCS down 1-2% were the losers among Sensex-30.

HDFC Bank, Coal India, RIL, SBI, Hero MotoCorp and BHEL up 3-4% were the major movers.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,366 stocks advanced while 1,255 stocks declined

Asian Markets

Shares made a cautious advance on Monday though gains were capped as investors braced for a possible escalation in Ukraine's civil conflicts after anti-Kiev rebels declared victory in a referendum on self-rule.

Hopes of capital market reform boosted Chinese shares while Indian shares surged to record high on the prospect of a more business-friendly government winning India's general election, with exit polls later coming out later in the day.

These expectations helped to lift MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 0.6%.

Hong Kong shares rose 2.2% while India's benchmark index rose as much as 1.8% and the Indian rupee also hit nine-month high.