New Delhi, March 24
Fired by pre-election enthusiasm, the benchmark Sensex today hit a new lifetime high and gained 300 points to end above the 22,000 points mark for the first time and the rupee strengthened to an almost seven-month high on the back of strong foreign inflows.

Today’s rally was led by interest-rate sensitive shares, including banks, on hopes that the RBI will hold rates in its upcoming review of monetary policy.

The BSE Sensex ended at a record closing of 22,055 points, up 300 points, or 1.38%. Its previous closing peak was 21,934 on March 10. The 50-share NSE barometer, Nifty, also hit a new peak of 6,591 points before ending at a record close of 6,583 points.

Mirroring the strong inflows into the stock market, the rupee today appreciated 12 paise against the US dollar to end at an over six-and-a-half month closing peak of 60.77 buoyed by sustained capital inflows.

Bank stocks were in play today surging as much as 4.2% on hopes that the RBI will hold rates in its upcoming policy review next month.

GAIL and ONGC with over 4% gain each led the 24 losers in 30-share Sensex. Major supporters were RIL, ITC, ICICI Bank, SBI, Hero MotoCorp, Hindustan Unilever and TCS.

Lalit Thakkar, MD-Institution, Angel Broking, said the equity markets are at new all-time highs largely fuelled by pre-election optimism. Markets are factoring in a strong positive mandate in the outcome of the upcoming General Election. In addition, of late global cues have also been favorable for Indian equities.

He added that domestically a key positive is that headline inflation has eased considerably during the recent February 2014 readings mainly on account of cooling food prices. “Once we are through with the elections, greater policy certainty is likely to drive announcement of new projects and revival in the investment cycle would aid in invigorating GDP growth”, he said.

Sanjeev Zarbade, vice-president - Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities, said the Indian market has been strong in the current year aided by robust FII flows and optimism related to General Election.” He added that at the start of the trade, HSBC released its PMI data on China which signalled a contraction in February. However, the Indian equities shrugged off mixed global cues as the Sensex ended at a historic high. Among the leaders, banks stood out as clear out-performers during the day. ONGC rallied 4% ahead of board meeting for announcement of interim dividend today.

Bangalore, March 24
A deadlock between the management and union of Toyota Kirloskar Motor took a new twist today after a lockout at its two plants at nearby Bidadi was lifted, with employees not resuming work as they objected to signing a good conduct undertaking.

The management, which had said it would lift the lockout after the government's conciliatory move last week, said it would keep the shifts running and the plants open for team members to join duty on the condition they would sign the "simple good conduct undertaking."

The union said the first shift employees were stopped at the gate as the management insisted they sign the undertaking, which they refused in line with their stand.

"We refused to sign, but they insisted on signing it and did not allow us inside," Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Union president Prasanna Kumar said. — PTI

BRIEFLY

Engineers India wins $40m overseas contract
New Delhi: Engineers India Ltd (EIL) said on Monday it has won a $40 million contract for the Liwa Plastics project of Oman Refineries and Petroleum Industries Co (Orpic). Orpic is owned by the Government of Oman and state-owned Oman Oil Company SAOC and has been created to pursue investment opportunities in the energy sector both inside and outside Oman. — PTI

BHEL bags Rs 3,000-crore order from NTPC
New Delhi: BHEL has bagged an order worth nearly Rs 3,000 crore for supply of steam generators for an upcoming power project in Odisha. The state-owned heavy electricals major has received the order from NTPC for supply of 2x800 MW steam generators (boilers) with super critical parameters. — PTI

RPower commissions third unit of Sasan UMPP
New Delhi: Reliance Power has commissioned the third 660 MW unit of its Sasan ultra mega power project in Madhya Pradesh. "The third 660 MW unit of the 3,960 MW Sasan UMPP has commenced power generation, thus making 1,980 MW of capacity operational at the project," Reliance Power said. — PTI

Fortis to open two hospitals in Bangalore
New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare said on Monday it plans to open two new hospitals in Bangalore, comprising 280 beds, over the next two years. The healthcare major's two new projects in Bangalore would consist of a 210-bed cancer hospital and a 70-bed facility catering to mother and child care. — PTI

GAIL inks MoU with Chubu Electric Power of Japan
New Delhi: The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) said on Monday it has signed an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chubu Electric Power of Japan. Under the MoU, GAIL and Chubu shall mainly explore possibilities for collaboration in the area of joint LNG procurement. Besides, the two companies will also seek to collaborate on shipping optimisation. — TNS