MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex and Nifty rallied to record highs, breaching the psychologically important 25,000 mark, while the rupee strengthened to near a 10-month high against the dollar, as early vote counts in the general elections showed the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies leading.
The BSE Sensex touched a life high of 25,375.63 in trade while the Nifty hit a record high of 7,563.50.
Lenders such as ICICI Bank surged nearly 10 percent while HDFC Bank rose 7.8 percent with the NSE banking index hitting a record high of 15,742.05 points. The Bank Nifty was trading up 8.3 percent as of 10.36 a.m.
Among other blue-chips Reliance Industries gained 6.1 percent while HDFC gained 4 percent.
The partially convertible rupee was trading at 58.73 per dollar by 10:33 a.m. after rising as much as 58.62. The local unit closed at 59.29/30 on Thursday.
