Nifty ends above 7100, Sensex rises 320 points; BHEL up 10%

Three days and three record-breaking rallies. Dalal street gave two-thumbs up to post-poll surveys, as most of them have given a clear mandate to the Modi-led NDA to grab the keys to 7 race course road.

The Nifty rallied over 90 points to go past the 7100 mark to hit its highest level in history. The Sensex breached the 24,000 mark for the first time. But, some gains were trimmed in the last hour of trade as it ended below that level. The Nifty ended above 7100 for the first time. The Nifty closed up 94.50 points or 1.35 percent at 7108.75 while the Sensex was up 320.23 points or 1.36 percent at 23871.23. About 1606 shares advanced, 1263 shares declined, and 145 shares were unchanged.

Midcaps managed to outperform the major indices as it clocked gains of over 2 percent.

Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital believes that this is not the right time for market participants to start positioning portfolios. He suggests avoiding incremental repositioning now.
Patnaik expects the market to see some consolidation at current levels and warns of increased volatility on May 16.

Brokerage firm Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees the 30-share Sensex at 25500 by the end of this calendar. However, it also cautioned that there was very little margin for error if the actual election results fell short of market expectations.

The market could see a minor rally after the announcement of the election results on Friday, but that is likely to be a short-lived one feels Sanjay Dutt, Director of Quantum Securities.
Dutt says that the new government cannot fix the problems overnight, and sees the Nifty consolidating in a band between 6800-7400 for the next months.

With the markets touching new highs everyday in anticipation of a favourable outcome for the NDA, the regulators are getting ready to tackle any surge in volatility. The financial stability and development council (FSDC), which is headed by the FM and has all financial sector regulators as its members, is meeting this evening to discuss steps to curb market volatility in the face of huge inflows.

Apart from that, the council will also discuss key economic issues like, inflation, fiscal consolidation and current account deficit.  Exchange rate, gold import restrictions and import-export numbers are also on the FSDC's agenda.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party is in a cheerful mood following the outcome of the post-poll surveys that hit television screens yesterday. Though elated with the outcome of the surveys, the BJP leaders are cautious till the final results are out. BJP spokesperson Ravishankar Prasad asserted that BJP will acquire the 272 seats on its own. The Congress party on the other hand was quick to brush aside the findings of the surveys. The party is of the opinion that it will receive a renewed mandate from the electorates to form UPA 3 government and will prove the post-poll surveys wrong as it did in 2004 and 2009.

In an ever-rising and record breaking market, BHEL was star of the day by gaining as much as 16 percent intraday. The Cabinet is likely to ratify the decision to sell 4.66 percent stake in the power equipment maker through a block deal. The proposal for post-facto approval for BHEL disinvestment is on the agenda of today's meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Tata Power and Wipro were top gainers in the Sensex. Pharma stocks fell prey to selling pressure as Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma were among losers. Tata Motors, Hindalco and HDFC Bank were other laggards.

PNB Q4 earnings disappointed. Net profit dipped 29 percent and asset quality deteriorated significantly. Bank of Baroda earnings beat street as net interest income jumped 11 percent and profits are up 12 percent.

Dr Reddy's reported a 4.2 percent surge in fourth quarter revenue on an annual basis but was below estimates.  The revenue miss was led mainly by a 35 percent drop in pharmaceutical services and active ingredients (PSAI). Net profit tumbled over 15 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago. The street was expecting a marginal increase. The company's North America and India business saw a healthy increase in the global generics business.

Meanwhile, Zuari Fertilisers, along with Vijay Mallya firms UB Holdings , Kingfisher Finvest and McDowell Holdings has made an counter offer to acquire 26 percent in Mangalore Chemicals at Rs 68.55 per share. This is Rs 5.55 more than the Rs 63 per share that Deepak Fertilizers is willing to pay for a 26 percent stake in the company through an open offer announced last week.

03:40 pm Market closing: The Nifty ended above 7100 for the first time. The Nifty closed up 94.50 points or 1.35 percent at 7108.75 while the Sensex was up 320.23 points or 1.36 percent at 23871.23. About 1606 shares advanced, 1263 shares declined, and 145 shares were unchanged.

03:30 pm Market views: Tirthankar Patnaik of Religare Capital believes that this is not the right time for market participants to start positioning portfolios. Also, he suggests avoiding incremental repositioning now.

Patnaik expects the market to see some consolidation at current levels and warns of increased volatility on May 16.

On specific stocks, he is bullish on private banks and select industrial stocks. He expects Tier 1 stocks to lead the market rally going ahead and blue-chips like ICICI Bank, JP Associates, L&T and Axis Bank to continue to have a good run.

Meanwhile, his FY15 GDP growth target is at 5.3 percent and for FY16 he is hopeful of 6.5 percent growth.

03:20 pm International markets: European shares rallied with a key index hitting a six-year high as a strong performance in US equities and upbeat updates from some blue-chip companies boosted appetite for riskier assets.

The dollar and Asian shares rose earlier after the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record peaks on Monday, led by a rebound in pummeled internet and biotech stocks on the back of strong corporate results and an improving economic outlook.

The run of positive corporate news continued in Europe, with Germany's ThyssenKrupp raising its full-year earnings outlook on Tuesday, while aerospace group Airbus Group posted a narrower-than-expected drop in core earnings and reaffirmed its financial goals for the year.

03:10 pm Outlook: Rashesh Shah, Chairman and CEO, Edelweiss Capital feels exit polls' outcome has been a pleasant surprise than people were prepared for. On that note, he won't be surprised to see even higher levels on Nifty.

Investors may witness buying in under-owned midcaps and smallcaps post election result, he says in an interview with CNBC-TV18.

"The market will respond very strongly to that. What we also expected up until now, many people have been trying to buy exposure to equities via the index or the top 100 stocks. We expect that investment buying will start, real cash buying will start and that will happen in the midcaps, in the smallercaps stocks which have been reasonably ignored up till now. So, Nifty may not be the place where the action will be after Friday. The action will be into in cash buying, in cash stocks, in midcaps and smallcaps," he said.

03:00 Market check: The market gears up for a record breaking closing again. The Sensex is up 337.24 points or 1.43 percent at 23888.24, and the Nifty is up 100.55 points or 1.43 percent at 7114.80.  About 1541 shares have advanced, 1291 shares declined, and 143 shares are unchanged.

BHEL is up 10 percent while Hero, ONGC, Tata Power and Wipro are top gainers in the Sensex. Among the losers are Dr Reddy's Labs, Coal India, Hindalco, Tata Motors and HDFC Bank.

02:50pm Fall in IVs make no money for option buyers
The Implied Volatility in Nifty call options fell from 45-46 levels yesterday to 33-35 levels today which led to fall in premiums of OTM call options. Traders who bought OTM calls yesterday would have not made money despite today's big rally due to fall in IVs.

02:40pm Gujarat based stocks hog limelight
Gujarat based stocks gain further especially Adani group stocks. Adani Enterprises (up 11.89 percent), Adani Ports (up 9.48 percent), Adani Power (up 7.44 percent), Pipavav Defence (up 4.88 percent), Gujarat Pipavav (up 4.86 percent) and Guj State Petronet  (up 3.43 percent).

02:30pm Are markets too complacent about a Modi win?
As election fever pushes Indian equities to fresh record highs, economists warn that the market and electorate may have unrealistic expectations of front-runner Narendra Modi. Read more

02:20pm Fall from day's high on profit booking
Nifty stocks that have fallen from day's high are PNB (down 7.76 percent), NTPC (down    5.67 percent), M&M (down 4.79 percent), BHEL (down 4.7 percent), Hindalco (down 4.61 percent), Bank of Baroda (down 4.81 percent), Dr Reddys Labs (down 3.76 percent), Coal India (down 3.71 percent) and Bharti Airtel (down 3.22 percent).

02:10pm Earnings Impact: Dr Reddy's down 2.5% on poor earnings
Drug major Dr Reddy's reported lower than expected profit in the fourth quarter. The consolidated net profit was down to Rs 481.6 crore from Rs 570.9 crore a year ago. Consolidated revenue saw marginal uptick to Rs 3,481 crore from Rs 3,340 crore a year ago.

02:00pm The benchmark indices saw profit bookings at higher levels as the markets turn volatile. Analysts expect some profit booking after a stupendous rally that saw Sensex gaining 1700 points in last three sessions.

The Sensex was up 356.49 points or 1.51 percent at 23907.49, and the Nifty up 105.40 points or 1.50 percent at 7119.65. The advance decline ratio has also come down from day's high. About 1431 shares advanced, 1301 shares declined, and 145 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers in the Nifty were BHEL (up 10.09 percent), Bank of Baroda (up 4.35 percent), ONGC (up 4.22 percent), DLF (up 4.07 percent) and Tata Power (up 3.86 percent).

The list of losers have extended on profit booking. PNB (down 3.04 percent), Dr Reddys Labs (down 2.68 percent), Cairn India (down 1.25 percent), Sun Pharma (down 1.04 percent) and HDFC Bank (down 0.76 percent) were top losers.

1:55 pm Brent crude held above USD 108 a barrel, supported by the threat of further European sanctions against Russia over Ukraine but with little impetus to move higher.

The European Union imposed sanctions on a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and the commander of Russian paratroopers as well as two confiscated Crimean energy companies, raising pressure on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

"The market has a fairly high tolerance to what's happening in Ukraine," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, adding that the risk of more sanctions or Ukrainian regions joining Russia had been factored into prices.

1:45 pm Stock in action: Shares of Tata Steel touched 15-month high, up 5 percent intraday on Tuesday. The metal stock is rallying on reports that it is planning to raise USD 1.24 billion overseas through the sale of bonds by one of its Singapore entities. This is part of a mega USD 7 billion debt refinancing initiative for Tata Steel Europe, formerly known as Corus, the report said.

''Senior company officials have already held preliminary discussions with a large group of Indian and international lenders from Europe, the US and Asia and has even proposed a detailed financing structure to them. The process is however expected to gather momentum after the company announces its fourth-quarter number,'' the report added.

Metal space, especially Tata Steel, have underperformed in this market. In 2011 the stock came down by 50 percent and in the last three years the stock has been moving in the range of Rs 330 on the downside and Rs 470 on the upside.

1:35 pm Tax woes: The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) has issued a show cause-cum-demand notice of over Rs 4.6 crore to the nation's largest oil firm Indian Oil Corporation for not paying service tax under the head of a 'goods transport agency'.

"We had issued a notice to IOC last month for tax liability of Rs 4.64 crore and the oil major has to reply by May 24," said a DGCEI source.

IOC will have to reply why the amount of Rs 4.64 crore along with interest, penalty and additional penalty for suppressing the value of toll charges paid to the transporters should not be charged, said the notice issued by Additional Director-General of DGCEI Samanjasa Das.

Das said IOC has not been paying their tax properly as a goods transport agency by not including toll charges paid to its transporters as actual expenses in the taxable value between October 2008 and September 2013.

1:25 pm Buzzing: Shares of NHPC jumped 5 percent on Tuesday on bagging a solar power project order. The company announced that an agreement was signed between NHPC and Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) for the development of solar power projects in Kerala.

As per this agreement NHPC shall in the first phase take up implementation of 50 MW grid linked solar power project at West Kallada Panchayat in Kollam District, says the company.

1:15 pm Reults: Bank of Baroda Q4 earnings beats street. Net interest income jumps 9.96 percent at Rs 3,124 crore. Profit is up 12.43 percent at Rs 1,157 crore. Asset quality improves. While PNB reports mixed Q4 earnings. Net profit comes at Rs 806 crore versus Rs 1,130 crore year-on-year while NII jumps 6 percent at Rs 4,002 crore.

It is another record high for the market on the back of hopes of a clear majority by BJP-led NDA based on exit polls. Big Nifty gainers include BHEL, Bank of Baroda and Ambuja Cement. Capital goods and IT pocket hefty gains while pharmas are still facing intense selling pressure.

The Sensex is up 280.44 points or 1.19 percent at 23831.44, and the Nifty up 82.00 points or 1.17 percent at 7096.25.  About 1411 shares have advanced, 1231 shares declined, and 140 shares are unchanged.

Modi-led NDA is set to cross the magic mark of 272. According to the findings of the CNN-IBN-Lokniti post poll survey, BJP is likely to get between 230-242 seats on its own while the Congress led UPA is set to be decimated.

Elections are over and diesel gets expensive as prices go up over rupee 1. The monthly price hikes were put on hold due to elections. Diesel prices in Delhi will cost Rs 56.71 per litre, while it will cost Rs 65.21 a litre in Mumbai.

12:50pm PNB down 12% from day's high on poor results
Shares of Punjab National bank was down 12 percent from day's high after bank reported dismal earnings in the fourth quarter.

12:40pm Riding on Modi wave, 20 stocks to watch out for now
As the bulls do the rampage on Dalal Street, it is time to add some weight to your portfolio. Watch out for these stocks which may gain post the NDA-led governemnt.

PSUs to be given more independence: Coal India, NTPC, BHEL, MTNL

Push to tourism: Jet Airways, Hotel stocks, Cox and Kings

Favourite projects are river linking, Quadrilateral bullet trains, national gas grid, 100 new cities: Power Grid, real estate and housing stocks Read more

12:30pm Low Price High Volume
Stocks that were trading below Rs 20 along with heavy volumes like Unitech (up 1.75 percent), GVK Power (up 5.18 percent), SpiceJet (up 4.35 percent), Sterling Bio (up 4.05 percent), Suzlon Energy (up 2.14 percent), Jaiprakash Power (up 2.64 percent), Lanco Infratech (up 4.74 percent) were buzzing in trade today.

12:20pm Market Outlook: Mkt to rally 5% more if NDA gets 270 plus seats: Religare
Gautam Trivedi, MD & Head of Equities-India at Religare Capital Markets expects another 5 percent upside in the market if Bhartiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance manages full majority and gets beyond 270 seats by itself on May 16. Read more

12:10pm Biggest winners
Bharat Electronics up 13.83 percent, BHEL up 13.56 percent, Delta Corp up 11.70 percent, Hindustan Construction up 11.35 percent, BEML up 11.18 percent, BF Utilities up 10.00 percent, Uco Bank up 9.07 percent were some of the biggest gainers.

12:05pm Sectoral Check
BSE Capital Goods index was the top gainer with over 4 percent gains followed by BSE Consumer Durables (up 4.18 percent), BSE Metal and Realty (up 3 percent each).

12:00pm Indian shares extend rally in the afternoon trade and scaled to new highs on hopes of stable government formation. The Sensex touched life-high of 24000 mark as exit polls suggest clear majority win for NDA. The Sensex has gained over 1700 points in last three trading sessions.

The Sensex was up 492.10 points or 2.09 percent at 24043.10, and the Nifty was up 150.70 points or 2.15 percent at 7164.95. About 1527 shares advanced, 952 shares declined, and 124 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers in the Nifty were BHEL (up 13.77 percent), Bank of Baroda (up 7.35 percent), DLF (up 5.34 percent), Tata Steel (up 4.64 percent) and Jindal Steel (up 4.56 percent).

Dr Reddys Labs and HDFC Bank were only losers in the Nifty.

11:58 am Market alert: The Sensex is up 492.10 points or 2.09 percent at 24043.10, and the Nifty up 150.70 points or 2.15 percent at 7164.95. About 1527 shares have advanced, 952 shares declined, and 124 shares are unchanged.

11:55 am Rupee check: The rupee led gains among emerging Asian currencies on Tuesday as exit polls suggested pro-reform and business-friendly opposition parties had won elections.

The South Korean won rose on exporters' demand for settlements, while the Philippine peso eased on profit-taking. Trading was subdued as some financial markets in Asia, such as Singapore, were closed for holidays.

The rupee rose as much as 0.8 percent to 59.59 per dollar as the Nifty hit a record high.

The partially convertible currency later pared some of its gains on caution that authorities may intervene to curb strength in the second-best performing emerging Asian currency so far this year.

11:45 am Tips: We are at the cusp of a a multi-year structural upshift in the gears of the economy and by extension, the stock market, feels Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities.

He is advising clients against cashing out immediately even if the poll results are on expected lines. In Sheth's words, this is just the 'beginning of the beginning'. Sheth sees lot of scope of value creation in the PSU oil & gas space by the new government, and refers to ONGC and HPCL as being 'gold mines'. He also feels that L&T is magnificently placed to benefit from the coming boom in the economy. Sheth is eyeing bottom-up stories in the mid-cap space and is bullish on stocks like Alembic and Federal Bank .

11:35 am Opinion: The market could see a minor rally after the announcement of the election results on Friday, but that is likely to be a short-lived one feels Sanjay Dutt, Director of Quantum Securities.

Dutt said the market has already discounted the election results. He said the market has been ignoring fundamental problems in the economy, but those would hit home at some point. Industrial output contracted by 0.5 percent in March, and consumer inflation climbed to a 3-month high of 8.59 percent, underscoring the challenges the new government will have to face, irrespective of the number of seats it wins.

11:25 am Market outlook: Rakesh Arora, Head of Research-India of Macquarie Capital Securities feels there is a high safety margin for Modi-led NDA to form government. Market will closely monitor cabinet portfolio allocation with all eyes on the upcoming budget.

Market may witness a 15-20 percent upside in coming 2-3 months but he does not see too much profit taking in immediate term. He would not be surprised if markets scale 7,500 by May-end.

He advises retail investors to focus on midcaps and recommends IRB , Gujarat Pipavav and Adani Ports . As cyclicals continue to look cheap as against defensives, he is not in a hurry to buy IT and pharma; advises cyclical stocks like SBI , Axis Bank and L&T .

11:15 am FII view: We are at the cusp of a a multi-year structural upshift in the gears of the economy and by extension, the stock market, feels Dipen Sheth of HDFC Securities.

He is advising clients against cashing out immediately even if the poll results are on expected lines. In Sheth's words, this is just the 'beginning of the beginning'. Sheth sees lot of scope of value creation in the PSU oil & gas space by the new government, and refers to ONGC and HPCL as being 'gold mines'. He also feels that L&T is magnificently placed to benefit from the coming boom in the economy.

It is a day to celebrate as market is jubilant on poll euphoria. The Sensex is up 402.10 points or 1.71 percent at 23953.10, and the Nifty is up 133.10 points or 1.90 percent at 7147.35.

About 1430 shares have advanced, 796 shares declined, and 121 shares are unchanged.

BHEL is up 13 percent while ONGC, Tata Steel, GAIL and Tata Power are top gainers in the Sensex. Heavyweights ITC and HDFC Bank are falling prey to profit booking. Dr Reddy's Labs is down over 1 percent.

Rupee is higher on positive domestic market sentiment after exit polls predict NDA majority at the centre. However, likely dollar buys by PSU banks cap gains.

Gilts are down on profit sales, despite exit polls indicating a strong majority for NDA. Traders cut positions ahead of election results on Friday. Rise in April CPI inflation and Rs 20,000 crore auction on Friday also weigh.

Euro is trading stable at one month lows against the dollar but is under pressure as investors expect the ECB to try and limit the euro strength and the yen trade at a one week low

Commodities saw crude hold earlier levels with Nymex at USD100 and Brent at USD 108 as Europe warned of further sanctions on Ukraine and Russia threatened to disrupt gas supplies. Gold traded sub USD 1300.

Asian markets trade higher following the US markets record close. Markets are closely watching a raft of Chinese data including industrial output and retail sales.

10:50am PSU stocks star performers
S&P BSE PSU index was one of the top gainers in sectoral indices with gains of close to 4 percent on hopes of NDA led government will auger well for PSU companies.

10:40am Buzzing Stock: Zuari Fertilisers, others make open offer for 26% in MCF
Zuari Fertilisers, along with Vijay Mallya firms UB Holdings , Kingfisher Finvest and McDowell Holdings has made an counter offer to acquire 26 percent in Mangalore Chemicals at Rs 68.55 per share. This is Rs 5.55 more than the Rs 63 per share that Deepak Fertilizers is willing to pay for a 26 percent stake in the company through an open offer announced last week. Read more

10:30am Gujarat based stocks flying high
Gujarat based stocks like Adani Ports    (up 10.09 percent), Adani Enterprises    (up 6.51 percent), Adani Power(up 6.14 percent), Arvind (up 5.03 percent) and Pipavav Defence (up 4.88 percent) were riding high in trade today.

10:20am Midcaps rally
Midcap stocks like IRB Infra (up 7.42 percent), BF Utilities (up 7.38 percent), Dewan Housing (up 6.86 percent), Ramco Cements (up 6.28 percent//0 and UCO Bank (up 6.11 percent) were making money for traders.

In the smallcap space, stocks like Hindustan Construction (up 9.46 percent), NCC (up 7.69 percent), Prakash Industries (up 7.63 percent) and Ingersoll Rand (up 6.60 percent) were buzzing in trade today.

10:10am Riding on Modi wave, 20 stocks to watch out for now
As the bulls do the rampage on Dalal Street, it is time to add some weight to your portfolio. Watch out for these stocks which may gain post the NDA-led government.

PSUs to be given more independence: Coal India, NTPC, BHEL, MTNL

Push to tourism: Jet Airways, Hotel stocks, Cox and Kings

Favourite projects are river linking, Quadrilateral bullet trains, national gas grid, 100 new cities: Power Grid, real estate and housing stocks. Read more

10:00am Stock markets opened at fresh life high in the opening bell and continue to hold on to its morning gains after exit polls predict clear majority for NDA. The market participants expect more reforms and recovery in the economy in the coming years on hopes of stable government formation at the centre without any alliance.

The Sensex was up 273.30 points or 1.16 percent at 23824.30, and the Nifty was up 81.95 points or 1.17 percent at 7096.20. About 1145 shares advanced, 519 shares declined, and 80 shares were unchanged.

Top gainers in the Nifty were BHEL (up 7.90 percent), DLF (up 5.10 percent), BPCL (up 4.72 percent), NTPC (up 4.34 percent) and Hindalco (up 4.32 percent).

Dr Reddys Labs was the top loser with loss of 1.28 percent followed by Coal India (down    0.5 percent), Bajaj Auto (down 0.28 percent),  HDFC Bank (down 0.16 percent) and HUL (down 0.13 percent).

The Indian Rupee also cheered exit polls survey and appreciated 30 paise in morning trade. Rupee is now trading at 59.7450 against dollar.

10:00 am Brokerage view post exit poll: Brokerage house Nomura sees the medium term outlook on India turning positive with a stable NDA-led government most likely to come to power. The brokerage house sees India's growth mix shifting in favour of investment and says that the economy is at an inflection point.

''We believe that India?s medium-term outlook is likely to gradually turn positive. With growth bottoming out, increased credibility of the Reserve Bank of India and faster execution cycle likely post elections, we believe that India's growth mix will change (away from consumption towards investment) and macro-imbalances will gradually correct,'' said the Nomura note to clients.

9:55 am Houseviews: Brokerage firm Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees the 30-share Sensex at 25500 by the end of this calendar. However, it also cautioned that there was very little margin for error if the actual election results fell short of market expectations.

BoA ML sees the rupee appreciating to 57 against the dollar near term, buoyed by strong foreign fund flows.

BoA ML's preferred picks include Maruti, ICICI Bank, ONGC, SBI, Eicher, Motherson, Yes Bank and Aurobindo Pharma.

9:50 am Open offer: Zuari Fertilisers, along with Vijay Mallya firms UB Holdings , Kingfisher Finvest and McDowell Holdings has made an counter offer to acquire 26 percent in Mangalore Chemicals at Rs 68.55 per share. This is Rs 5.55 more than the Rs 63 per share that Deepak Fertilizers is willing to pay for a 26 percent stake in the company through an open offer announced last week.

Zuari owns 16.43 percent in MCF while promoter Mallya holds about 22 percent in the company. Deepak Fertilizers own 24.46 percent in MCF.

9:45 am Stake sale: The Cabinet is likely to ratify today the decision to sell 4.66 percent stake in power equipment maker BHEL through a block deal. The proposal for post-facto approval for BHEL disinvestment is on the agenda of Tuesday's meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), sources said.

The Finance Ministry in March had sold 4.66 percent stake in the state-owned company to Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for about Rs 1,889 crore. LIC purchased 11.41 crore shares in BHEL at a price of Rs 165.55 apiece through a block deal on the BSE.

9:40 am Market check: The Sensex is up 288.97 points or 1.23 percent at 23839.97, and the Nifty is up 83.25 points or 1.19 percent at 7097.50. About 1079 shares have advanced, 450 shares declined, and 74 shares are unchanged.

BHEL is up 8 percent, GAIL gains 5 percent while NTPC, ONGC and Tata Power are top gainers in the Sensex.  Pharma stocks are still under pressure with Dr Reddy's Labs and Sun Pharma in the selling list.

9:30 am Macro data: Rate cut hopes fade away as retail inflation rises to a 3-month high in April. Also industrial production in March contracts by 0.5 percent.

Experts believe the CPI data has been quite disappointing though the IIP number added some cheer. Acording to Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Chief Economic Adviser, SBI, the core CPI that came in at 7.8 percent (MoM), is a pleasant surprise given that inflation has risen in April.

Sajjid Chinoy, Asia Economics, JPMorgan believes that at 7.8 percent, the momentum has changed quite a lot. However, the service sector growth has been muted and even without an El Nino, which is expected to cause slowdown in monsoons, food inflation could remain really high.

9:25 am Market internals: Nifty gains around 460 points in last three trading sessions. Sensex gains around 1,500 points in last three trading sessions. Bank Nifty gains around 1,260 points in last three trading sessions. ONGC and Reliance Industries are top contributors to Nifty gain. SBI and ICICI Bank are top contributors to Bank Nifty gain.

9:20 am Exit poll: Here are the findings of the CNN-IBN post poll survey conducted by CSDS.

The BJP-led NDA looks set for a simple majority come May 16. The NDA looks likely to get its highest ever total and cross the 272 mark. The Congress could be routed- the survey pegs its results at less than 150 seats.

Uttar Pradesh seems to be struck by Modi wave from 10 seats in 2009, BJP goes to bag 45-53.

The politically important state of Bihar springs up a surprise in Laloo Prasad Yadav who is making a come back, but here again the biggest gainer is BJP.

In West Bengal, its advantage to Mamta Banerjee led TMC.

In the newly created state of Telangana, TRS is expected to be the largest gainer in the state. While in Seemadhara, Jagan Reddy and Chandrababu Naidu led TDP will be sharing.

In Modi's own state of Gujarat, BJP is set to give its best performance.

In the national capital, Congress party is being wiped out and BJP emerges as the biggest gainer of the seven seats in Delhi.

The market opens at a record high level riding on the exit poll results. The Sensex is up 303.11 points or 1.29 percent at 23854.11, and the Nifty is up 84.50 points or 1.20 percent at 7098.75.

About 639 shares have advanced, 115 shares declined, and 27 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, BHEL, L&T, NTPC and Tata Motors are top gainers in the Sensex.

The Indian rupee gained in early trade against the dollar. The rupee opened higher by 39 paise at 59.66 versus previous day close of 60.05. It was last traded at 59.50 per dollar on April 2, 2014.

Asian equities resumed their uptrend ahead of a raft of Chinese data as investors welcomed a record Wall Street finish. Nikkei was higher on weaker yen. South Korean shares also jumped to two-week highs.

Chinese industrial output, retail sales and fixed asset investment for April are due later in the session.

In US, stocks rose on Monday, lifting the S&P 500 and the Dow to record finishes, as technology shares surged and M&A activity helped brighten Wall Street's view of the economy.