'The economy will be back on track much faster than what
one could have thought of'
It was a day of surprises for the stock markets on Monday
as it gave a thumbs-up to the victory of the United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) in the general elections with a gain of 2110.79
points.
The Dalal Street lost fear for the first time since the
global recession hit markets with the fall of U.S.-based
investment banker Lehman Brothers in August 2008. United
Progressive Alliance's near majority in parliamentary elections
helped the market create history and hit the upper circuit
twice in a day.
The Sensex, at the opening bell, surged 1306 points to
13479 and Nifty was 532 points up at 4203 and hit the first
circuit for the day and also for the first time in the history
of the Indian stock exchanges and the markets were closed
for two hours. At 11.55 a.m. when the market opened again,
the Sensex gained another 700 points and Nifty 150 points
and hit the second circuit of the day and the market was
closed for the day.
The BSE 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) gained 2110.79
points or 17.34 per cent and closed at 14284.21 while a
broader 50-sahre Nifty of the NSE gained 651.50 points or
17.74 per cent to close the session at 4323.15.
Monday's gain was an affirmation of investors that an effective
and smooth continuation of the current policies of the government
in the coming days. "With proactive monetary and fiscal
policies combined with stable government, one can only expect
that the economy will be back on track much faster than
what one could have thought of," said A. Balasubramaniam,
CIO of Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (BSLMF).
"The market breadth, the number of advancing shares
to declining shares, was highly tilted in favour of advancing
shares," said Gaurav Dua, Head of Research, Sharekhan,
a stock trading firm. Of the 846 stocks traded on the BSE,
833 advanced, whereas 11 stocks declined. Two stocks ended
unchanged.
All sectoral indices on the BSE closed positive gaining
in the range of around 7-23 per cent. The rally was led
by the realty sector which moved up by 23.45 per cent, followed
by capital goods sector which was up by 21.90 per cent.
BSE Bankex was up by 19.18 per cent, Oil & Gas by 19.11
per cent, Power by 18.33 per cent, PSU by 16.42 per cent,
Metal by 16.10 per cent and Teck index by 14.02 per cent.
Voicing a concern in the midst of jubilation, Mr. Balasubramaniam
said that "Though the Indian equity market is going
to cherish the positivity, the bond market may not cherish
as much as the equity market due to fiscal concerns".
Among the broader indices, BSE midcap was up by 447.41
points or 11.75 per cent and small cap by 387.14 points
or 9.05 per cent.
The BSE said that all settlements were completed smoothly
according to schedule. "There are no issues on margin
collection and it has been computed as per the regular policy,"
it added.
Source: Hindu.com
