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The markets have maintained the spectacular momentum witnessed on Friday, thanks to blockbuster gains in index bellweather RIL and banking stocks. The Sensex has reclaimed the 23k mark touched in the previous session, the Nifty has surpassed 6,900 and the Bank Nifty is above 14,000. The Sensex is at 23,319, stronger by 325 points, the Nifty is 6928, up 69 points and the Bank Nifty is at 14,049, up 335 points. The midcap index is at 7493, higher by 37 points and the smallcap index is at 7614, up 22 points. All the sectoral indices are in the green, with the exception of consumer goods and pharma.
The markets seem to be sanguine at the prospect of a Narendra Modi-led, stable government after May 16. The markets had raised an early toast to Narendra Modi on Friday as rumours of an exit poll predicting the formation of a BJP-led NDA government fired up the Sensex to a new life-time high of 23,048 before closing within kissing distance of the 23k mark at 22,994. And after the gains this morning, the Sensex has now added more than 1000 points within a span of little more than a day.
Th final day of voting is set for Monday and the exit polls that are expected to trickle in post 5pm on the same day. The campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections 2014 has come to an end and 41 constituencies, including Varanasi, would go to the polls. The April CPI and March IIP data, scheduled to be released next week, would also influence sentiment going ahead.
On the global front, Asian shares were trading mixed as investors turned cautious due to re-emergence of tensions in Ukraine and Russia. Hang Seng and China were up over 1-1.6% each, while Nikkei and Straits Times were trading marginally lower.
Major US stock indices ended with marginal gains on Friday but selling pressure in Apple Inc weighed on the broader S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. The Dow Jones ended up 0.2% at 16,583, S&P 500 rose 0.15% to close at 1,878 and Nasdaq rose 0.5% to end at 4,072.
On the results front, Just Dial, Coromandel International, Indian Bank, Torrent Cables, Torrent Power and TV Today Network, among others, will announce their January-March 2014 earnings today, 12 April 2014.
RIL is the star performer in today's session. The stock is trading at life-time highs of Rs 1031, up 3.3%, on the BSE. The banking sector is also going strong. SBI has soared by 2.3% at Rs 2223, Axis Bank has galloped by 2.1% at Rs 1667, HDFC Bank has jumped by 2% at Rs 772 and ICICI Bank has added 1.8% at Rs 1400.
The laggards on the BSE include Hindalco (down 1.2% at Rs 142), Wipro (down 1.1% at Rs 506) and Sun Pharma (down 0.6% at Rs 620).
The market breadth is strong. 0ut of 1375 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 952 advancing stocks against 371 declines.
