Mumbai, May 20: Riding high on exit poll results that predict a massive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), equity benchmark indices- Sensex and Nifty, continued their upward momentum on Monday. The 30-share BSE benchmark spiked on Monday morning in the opening trade by 888.91 points up at 38,819.68. Similarly, the broader Nifty rose 284.15 points to open at at 11,691.30. The Indian rupee gained in the early trade on Monday and opened higher by 0.61 paise at Rs 69.61 per dollar.

At 1.15 PM, Sensex was up by 1107.76 points at  39,038.53 while Nifty surged 329.10 points to 11,736.25. At 2.30 PM, Sensex soared 1,318.99 points to 39,249.76 while Nifty was up by 381 points at 11,788. At 3.15 PM, Sensex was up by 1409 points at 39,340.11 while Nifty was up by 417 points at 11,824.85.

In the last week, analysts had said that the exit poll trends will set the tone for the equity markets in the initial part of the week, while the final outcome of the general elections on May 23 would build the road ahead for stocks. During the last week, the BSE Sensex soared 537 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,400 level on Friday in a broad-based rally led by banking and auto stocks ahead of exit poll results, despite global headwinds. Reports inform that markets are pricing in the formation of a stable government and continuation of reforms, experts said.

On Sunday, most exit polls predicted that BJP-led NDA is set to return to power while the Congress-led UPA is expected to fall far short of numbers to reach the half-way mark in the Lok Sabha elections. 12 of 14 exit polls predicted National Democratic Alliance getting a full majority with the range of seats going from 282 to 365. A party or an alliance needs 271 seats to form the government as Lok Sabha elections have been held on 542 of 543 seats.

According to reports, the exit polls, released on the conclusion of seven-phase Lok Sabha election, also predicted that "others" will gain a significant chunk of seats ranging from 94 to 138. As per exit poll predictions by Republic TV, the NDA government is likely to keep its bastion in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat and Delhi and make major inroads in West Bengal.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 20, 2019 09:35 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).