Money on the markets

The Sensex created history today, jumping more than 17 percent for its biggest single-day gain in almost two decades as investors cheered the ruling coalition’s election victory.

The benchmark hit the first circuit breaker a few seconds after opening. The second breaker came at 11:55 am and trade was finally halted for the day, with the Sensex closing 2110.79 points up at 14, 284.21.

Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, L&T, Bharti Airtel and HDFC were the top contributors to the market surge.

Reliance Industries rose more than 20 percent and had the largest turnover of Rs 95.9 million.

Its market capitalisation rose from $13 billion to about $75 billion, on low volume of 41,096 shares.

All sectoral indices closed the day in the green. The BSE Realty Index surged 23.4 percent, followed by the Capital Goods Index which gained 21.9 percent.

FIIs bought net $201.9 million in shares and $13.8 million in debt.

The ruling coalition’s victory has calmed fears of political uncertainty. Do you think investor optimism can push the Sensex to 15,000 levels in the coming sessions?