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Nifty crosses 7,000; Sensex up 550 points
Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 12
While markets continued rally for the second straight day on the expectations of exit polls showing Narendra Modi-led BJP forming the new government, economic data continues to be subdued with industrial growth contracting for the second straight month.

The NSE 50-share Nifty crossed the 7,000 level for the first time in the history to touch 7,020 points. The BSE Sensex rallied 550 points today to close at 23,551 points. The Sensex has gained 1,100 points in the last two trading sessions on speculation about the poll outcome. The rupee also touched a level of 59.8 against the US dollar, a 10 month high before closing lower.

Rikesh Parikh, vice-president, Motilal Oswal Securities, said the Nifty extended its rally for the third straight session thereby breaching 7,000 mark in anticipation of NDA led alliance forming the government. He added that markets have been led by banking, auto, infra and PSU sectors while consumer, pharma and IT were laggards. "Going forward, expect markets to remain volatile with exit polls announcement and final result to be announced on Friday", he added.

While the market euphoria continues, economic data disappointed with industrial growth remaining in negative territory for the second month in a row, contracting 0.5 per cent in March due to declining output in manufacturing, especially capital goods.

The index of industrial production (IIP) remained almost flat in 2013-14 and declined 0.1 per cent compared with an expansion of 1.1 per cent in 2012-13. The IIP showed growth of 3.5 per cent in March 2013.