Mumbai, May 12 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets surged more than 556 points to touch a new life-time high so far of 23,573 points as the market priced in a probable Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) victory after the last phase of Lok Sabha elections ended Monday.

The results of the general elections will be announced May 16.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which crossed the 23,000 points for the first time last week, opened Monday’s trade at 23,031.11 points, and ended trade at 23,551 points, a record closing high, up 556.77 points or 2.42 percent from the previous day’s close at 22,994.23 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 23,572.88 points and a low of 23,008.65 points intra-day.

Traders said the exit polls would show a favourable turnout for the BJP. Shrikant Chouhan, head, technical research, Kotak Securities, said the market is moving upward mainly on expectations.

“If the outcome of the event comes as per expectations, then we can expect massive buying into mid-cap stocks,” he said.

The rally was led by the automobile, bank, oil and gas, metal and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and consumer durables sectors.

All sectoral indices of the BSE made healthy gains.

The S&P BSE automobile index gained 394.52 points, bank index surged by 392.29 points, capital goods index gained 349.73 points, oil and gas index went up by 309.89 points, metal index moved up by 241.18 points, FMCG index edged higher by 172.27 points, and consumer durables index zoomed 133.62 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) too closed at a record high. It surged 155.45 points or 2.27 percent and closed at 7,014.25 points before climbing to its high of 7,020.05 points — the highest so far.

The major Sensex gainers were: Coal India, up 7.04 percent at Rs.330.80; HDFC Bank, up 4.59 percent at Rs.791.95; Tata Motors, up 4.09 percent at Rs.445; Hero MotoCorp, up 4.01 percent at Rs.2,304.55; and Maruti Suzuki, up 3.99 percent at Rs.2,051.40.

The main losers were: Sun Pharma, down 1.73 percent at Rs.613.10; Cipla, down 1.26 percent at Rs.387.60; Hindalco Inds, down 0.52 percent at Rs.143; Wipro, down 0.14 percent at Rs.511.60; and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), down 0.07 percent at Rs.2,159.70.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.35 percent down while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was higher by 1.82 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.08 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.41 percent up and the French CAC 40 Index fell 1.04 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index lost by 0.15 percent.