Hopes of a stable government assuming power at the Centre after a week triggered an upsurge of buying in markets today, with BSE benchmark Sensex zooming by over 650 points to breach the crucial 23,000-level for the first time.
Frenzied buying was witnessed across sectors, mainly in banking, realty, power, refinery and capital goods.
Share brokers attributed the surge to BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi exuding optimism in an interview last night that BJP will get a clear majority and form the "strongest and the most stable government" since Rajiv Gandhi's government in 1984.
"As the elections D-day is approaching closer, markets are rallying on anticipation of a favorable outcome," said Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman & Managing Director of Angel Broking.
Riding on continuous foreign fund inflows, the 30-share Sensex hit a new record of 23,048.49.
However, it settled the day a few notches lower at 22,994.23-- record closing high-- registering a rise of 650.19 points or 2.91 per cent, the biggest gain in almost eight months. On September 19 last year, the barometer soared over 684 points.
The previous all-time high record for the Sensex was 22,939.31, recorded on April 25.
The 50-share Nifty of NSE set a historic high of 6,871.35 but ended the day at 6,858.80, a gain of 198.95 points or 2.99 per cent from its previous close.
"Unmistakably, the focus remains on the approaching D-day, i.E. May 16 when the election verdict would be announced. But even before that, the market would react to exit polls numbers as it starts trickling in once the final phase of polling gets completed by May 12," said Sanjeev Zarbade, Vice President, Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities.
ICICI Bank at 6.63 per cent was the best performer. Tata Power was the next best 5.57 per cent, Hindalco was up 5.35 per cent, HDFC Bank 5.31 per cent), BHEL 5.21 per cent, Coal India 5.07 per cent,
Of the 30 Sensex stocks, 27 rose sharply on good demand while the remaining three declined.
