An evening walk down D-St: Blockbuster day for market ahead of exit polls

It was a blockbuster day for the Indian market as Nifty50 reclaimed 11400 levels on a closing basis, while the S&P BSE Sensex had a touch and go moment with 38,000.

Most experts suggest that the move could be largely led by short-covering ahead of the exit polls which are due on May 19.

“Short covering could well have boosted markets today. Friday's move somewhat indicates that exit poll may be in favour of BJP led NDA government,” Sanjeev Jain, VP Equity Research at Sunness Capital India Pvt Ltd, told Moneycontrol.

“Sharp up move of Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC twins, ITC has rallied the benchmark indices. More than 250-260 seats for BJP may be a big positive for the market. If any single party crosses the 240/250 seat mark, then there would be a significant rally in the market,” he said.

Investors’ wealth in terms of market capitalisation on the BSE rose by 1.4 lakh crore in a single session. The average market capitalisation of the BSE listed companies rose to Rs 146.59 lakh crore on May 17 compared to Rs 145.22 lakh crore recorded on Wednesday on the BSE.

The final tally on D-Street – the S&P BSE Sensex rose 537 points to 37,930 while the Nifty50 rallied 150 points to close at 11,407.