Sensex crosses new high of 24,000 points on exit poll predictions

Riding on the exit polls forecast that shows a stable govt led by the BJP coming to power at the Centre, the benchmark BSE Sensex crossed 24,000 points on heavy fund inflows. All the sectoral indices led by oil and gas, PSUs, power, banking, realty and capital goods sectors were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 2.21 percent. The 50-share NSE Nifty also breached the psychological 7,100 mark for the first time by surging 101.95 points, or 1.45 percent, to trade at a new high of 7,116.20.

The 30-share Sensex rose by 370.91 points, or 1.57 percent, to trade at an all-time high of 23,921.91, surpassing its previous intra-day record of 23,572.88 reached yesterday. The gauge had rallied over 1,206 points in the past two sessions. Brokers said sustained capital inflows by foreign funds at the domestic bourses and widespread buying by retail investors after exit polls showing the BJP-led NDA forming the government lifted the key indices to new highs. Further, a firming trend in other Asian markets following overnight gains on the US bourses buoyed the trading sentiment here, they said. Sectorally, the BSE oil and gas sector index gained the most, rising 2.21 percent, followed by the PSU index at 2.16 percent and capital goods by 1.98 percent. Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.78 percent while Japan's Nikkei gained 1.79 percent in early trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.68 percent to close at record high in yesterday's trade.