Sensex jumps 37,000 mark after announcement of general elections

Mumbai: Inflows from foreign institutional investors turned the market sentiment positive on Monday with equity benchmark indices gaining sharply after the announcement of general elections due to begin on April 11.

An opinion poll showed the ruling NDA alliance is likely to come close of winning a simple majority in Parliament.

According to CVoter poll survey, a total of 241 seats could go to his BJP-led alliance compared to 141 to the Congress-led opposition alliance.

Traders said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to benefit from tensions with Pakistan.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex galloped 383 points to 37,054 while the NSE Nifty 50 was up 141 points at 11,176.

Shares of State Bank of India jumped 2.08 per cent after announcement on Friday that it will link savings bank deposits and short-term loans to the repo rate of Reserve Bank of India.

Jet Airways also moved up 1.2 per cent to Rs 246.25 after a report said the debt-laden carrier has secured a loan of Rs 2,050 crore from Punjab National Bank.

Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and Eicher Motors were the biggest gainer on National Stock Exchange. On the flip side, NTPC, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies and Tech Mahindra lost the most.

Meanwhile, Asian shares breathed somewhat easy as Chinese markets rebounded after China’s central bank on Sunday pledged to further support by spurring loans and lowering borrowing costs.

But surprisingly weak US employment data raised doubts about the strength of global economy. The overall investor sentiment was weak ahead of the crucial Brexit votes in British Parliament later this week.

[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]