Sensex on saffron high; up 1,300 points, Nifty tops 7,500

Markets surged to record highs as early leads indicate victory for BJP-led NDA

Benchmark share indices hit record highs, with the Sensex breaching the 25,000 mark and the Nifty topping 7,400 as early trends indicated the pro-reform and business friendly BJP-led NDA is set get a majority and form a stable government.

At 10:03 AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 1,357 points at 25,270 and the 50-share Nifty jumped over 394 points at 7,519.

The rupee gained sharply against the US dollar following the sharp gains in equity markets and hopes of further inflows from foreign institutional investors.

Asian markets were trading lower, with the Nikkei down nearly 2% on the back of profit taking and a stronger yen. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.3%, Hang Seng slipped 0.7% and Straits Times was down 0.4%.

US markets ended lower on Thursday as investors continued to book profit at higher levels while discouraging earnings from Wal-Mart also weighed on market sentiment. The Dow lost 1% at 16,447, S&P 500 lost 0.9% and Nasdaq ended down 0.8%.

Financials were the top gainers on the Sensex on hopes that the BJP-led NDA would unveil reforms and stimulate economic growth.

ICICI Bank was up 7%, HDFC Bank was up 7%, HDFC was up 5%, SBI was up 8% and Axis Bank was up 6%, contributing the most to the Sensex gains.

Among index heavyweights, Reliance Ind was up 6%, while ITC was up 4.4%. Other gainers include, L&T, ONGC, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp among others.

Interestingly, Dr Reddys Labs was the sole Sensex loser down 2% Rs 2,427.

Market breadth was strong with 1,069 gainers and 633 losers on the BSE.