Sensex climbs 1,300 points; Nifty touches 11,800
Mumbai: Domestic benchmark indices extended their rally Monday with the BSE Sensex climbing 1,300 points, while Nifty touched 11,800 mark as investors cheered exit poll results that showed a likely win for the ruling NDA in the general elections.
The 30-share index was trading 1,341 points, or 3.54 per cent, higher at 39,271.77. In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty soared 393.95 points, or 3.45 per cent, to 11,801.10.
Top gainers in the Sensex pack include SBI, Yes Bank, Tata Motors, L&T, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, ONGC, Maruti, M&M, Axis Bank, RIL, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC, Vedanta, Asian Paints, Tata Steel and Bajaj Finance, rising over 7 per cent.
On the other hand, Bajaj Auto and Infosys slipped up to 1 per cent.
Most exit polls Sunday forecast another term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with some of them projecting that BJP-led NDA will get more than 300 seats to comfortably cross the majority mark of 272 in the Lok Sabha.
The results of the seven-phase polls will come out Thursday.
"If exit polls are right a BJP single party majority may result in an up-move of 5-10 per cent of the Nifty in the near term. However, a non NDA government may lead to a 10-15 per cent correction in Nifty, if we go by market reactions in 2004 and 2009 to big surprises," UBS Securities said in a research note.
Meanwhile, market regulator Sebi and stock exchanges have beefed up their surveillance mechanism to check any manipulative activities in the market this week in view of the high-octane election related events lined up.
On the currency front, the rupee appreciated by 69 paise to 69.53 against the US dollar.
Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at 72.62 per barrel, higher by 0.57 per cent.
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Money laundering probe: ED raids ex-DPIIT secretary Ramesh Abhishek
New Delhi (PTI): The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday raided the premises of retired IAS officer and former Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) secretary Ramesh Abhishek as part of a disproportionate assets linked money laundering probe against him, official sources said.
The ED case stems from a recent CBI FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the 1982-batch officer. He was raided by the CBI in February.
Abhishek retired in 2019 from the DPIIT (erstwhile Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion).
The ED is searching the premises of Abhishek as part of a money laundering investigation, the sources said.
The CBI had alleged in its FIR that Abhishek enriched himself "illicitly" after retirement by receiving "huge amounts" as consultation fee from private companies whose matters he had dealt while in service.
The CBI and ED have also booked his daughter Vanessa.
The retired officer also held the post of chairman, Forward Markets Commission, and the CBI case was booked against him on a reference from anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.
The Lokpal has alleged that the father-daughter duo received big amounts as professional fee from various entities and organisations with whom the former IAS officer had official dealings as the secretary or the chairman.
