After climbing Mt 40K, Sensex loses steam, down 299 points

Mumbai, May 23 

The BSE Sensex surged over 1,000 points today to touch the 40,000-mark for the first time ever following the BJP’s thumping electoral show, but could not sustain the euphoria as investors chose to cash in on the gains.

In a similar movement, the broader NSE Nifty crossed the historic 12,000-level after early trends gave the BJP a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, but succumbed to profit booking towards the fag-end of the session.

The 30-share Sensex tumbled 298.82 points to close at 38,811.39, while the Nifty settled 80.85 points lower at 11,657.05.

Interestingly, when the Narendra Modi government came to power on May 16, 2014, the Sensex had rallied 261.14 points to 24,121.74; and the Nifty jumped 79.85 points to 7,203.

According to experts, the markets had already priced in the election outcome and the focus would now shift to reforms, economic growth, monsoon and developments surrounding the bruising US-China trade conflict.

“The re-election of NDA alliance has put to an end to the uncertainty and raised hopes of momentum gaining in the Indian economy and markets, which logically attained new heights today.

“The results have raised hopes of the issues being faced by the economy being tackled in a firm and prudent way. This is the first time in world history that a government that has introduced GST in a country has been voted back to power,” said Dhiraj Relli, MD and CEO, HDFC Securities. — PTI

Succumbs to profit booking 

• In a similar movement, the NSE Nifty crossed the historic 12,000-level after early trends gave the BJP a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, but succumbed to profit booking towards the fag-end of the session

• According to experts, the markets had already priced in the election outcome and the focus would now shift to reforms, economic growth, monsoon and developments surrounding the bruising US-China trade conflict