Sensex hits 40,000 mark for first time ever, Nifty crosses 12,000-level

Minutes after opening the BSE Sensex jumped 771.80 points or 1.97 percent to 39,882.01 while the NSE Nifty soared 226.80 points or 1.93 percent to 11,964.70.

New Delhi: The BSE Sensex hit 40,000 mark for the first ever time, zooming nearly 900 points while the NSE Nifty crossed 12,000 level as counting for Lok Sabha Election 2019 showed NDA leading on more than 300 seats out of the 542.

The markets were lifted by gains in all the sectoral indices are led by banks, auto, energy, infra, metal, IT and pharma.

The benchmark BSE Sensex yesterday closed 140 points higher at 39,110.21, bolstered by gains in banking and auto stocks. In similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty rose 28.80 points, or 0.25 per cent, to 11,737.90.

Investor sentiment turned positive this week after most exit polls forecast a win for the Narendra Modi-led NDA, analysts said.

Top Sensex gainers in morning trade include IndusInd Bank, SBI, L&T, PowerGrid, Yes Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, RIL, HDFC, Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank, rallying up to 7 per cent.  While, Vedanta, ONGC, Bajaj Auto and Sun Pharma slipped up to 1.92 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors sold equity worth Rs 965.02 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares to the tune of Rs 157.75 crore, provisional data available with stock exchanges showed.