UPA win forces BSE to apply ‘circuit-breaker’
18 May 2009
Buoyed by the sweeping electoral win of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, Indian stock markets hit the circuit-breaker ceiling early on Monday. Both the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange decided to halt trading for two hours, up to noon.
In the first 30 seconds of trade, the BSE Sensex crossed the 13,000 mark and inched up towards the 14,000 mark. This was the first time since October 2008 that the Sensex surpassed 13,000 mark and the Nifty crossed 4000.
Within 15 minutes of opening, the Sensex rose by 1305.97 points to 13,479.39. The jump breached the "circuit breaker" kept to ensure the market doesn't move up and down too quickly and too much, according to the BSE website.
The Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange also hit the "circuit breaker" after rising 531.65 points to 4,203.30 within 15 minutes of opening.