Dalal St hogs limelight as BJP shines in Maha

Mumbai : Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged more than one per cent on Monday, helped by a rally in blue-chip stocks and the BJP pulling off a stunning performance in Maharashtra, winning a record number of seats to propel the party-led ruling Mahayuti alliance to a landslide victory. Besides, heavy buying in capital goods, energy and banking stocks also boosted investor sentiments, traders said.

Extending its previous day’s sharp rally, the BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 992.74 points or 1.25 per cent to settle at 80,109.85. During the day, it soared 1,355.97 points or 1.71 per cent to 80,473.08. As many as 2,697 stocks advanced, 1,352 declined, and 165 remained unchanged. The NSE Nifty surged 314.65 points or 1.32 per cent to 24,221.90.

“The ability of the market to surprise was evident in the 557 points spurt in the Nifty on Friday. This sharp upswing will continue today assisted by the super NDA performance in Maharashtra. The political message from this election is huge and highly positive from the market perspective,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Financial Services. The BSE smallcap gauge jumped 1.86 per cent and the midcap index went up by 1.61 per cent. All sectoral indices ended higher.

“Major state election results lifted market sentiment and increased the scope of stability in government spending in H2FY25 to meet the capex target. The rally was broad-based, while capex-linked sectors like infra, capital goods, and industrials outperformed in expectation of a surge in new order inflows. The prospects of H2 remain positive due to a good monsoon, festival, and marriage season, which could ease the impact of earnings downgrades that happened in Q2,” Vinod Nair, head (research), Geojit Financial Services.“Shares climbed in Europe and Asia on Monday, tracking last week’s gains on Wall Street, as investors viewed US President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of billionaire investor Scott Bessent as his nominee for Treasury secretary as a relatively market-friendly choice that could inject more stability into the US economy and financial markets. China’s central bank kept the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged at 2 per cent,” Deepak Jasani, Head (Retail Research), HDFC Securities.