New Delhi, April 1: Buoyed by the hopes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi returning to power in the upcoming general elections and rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its monetary policy this week and positive global sentiments, the 30-scrip Sensex of the BSE on Monday touched a record high of 39,000-mark. It, however, closed at 38,871.87 points.

Also, positive global cues helped the equity indices gain momentum.

The Sensex of the BSE, which opened at 38,858.88 points, ended the day’s trade at 38,871.87 points, higher 198.96 points or 0.51 per cent from the previous day's close at 38,672.91 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 39,115.57 points and a low of 38,808.74 points in the trade so far.

“BSE 30 clocked new life high above 39000 psychological levels however profit booking creped in at end of the trading session. India’s economic growth trajectory continues to attract international investors that have shown confidence by pumping in Rs 32,371 crore in the month of March itself,” said Aasif Hirani, Director, Tradebulls Securities.

“In our view index is headed higher till 39500 levels as earnings season is round the corner and pick up in earnings growth will lead the rally higher in coming months. Investors who have been patient while the index consolidated in past few months have been rewarded with decent returns in the month of March and the same is expected as pre-election rally matures in coming months,” he added.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was ended the day’s trade at 31.70 points or 0.27 per cent higher at 11,655.60 points.

Explaining the reason behind this surge, Deepak Shenoy, CEO, Capital Mind told Outlook Money, “I think it is due to positive expectations from the upcoming elections.”

The sectors, which gained maximum on Monday’s trade are metals, basic materials, energy, IT, TECK and industrials.

“There are two specific reasons behind the market touching record high today. Firstly investors are hopeful that Narendra Modi will come back to power and get close to 300 seats in the upcoming general elections. And secondly, valuation is still cheap. In 2018, the foreign institutional investors have withdrawn Rs 33,000 crore from the market, but in January-February they bought stocks worth Rs 46,000 crore, out of which Rs 32,000 crore came back in March itself,” said Kishor Ostwal, Chairman cum Managing Director, CNI Research.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said: “Pre-elections rally extended to the new financial year with increase in prospects of political stability, rate cut expectation from RBI and improvement in GST collection in March. A better than expected Chinese economic data and surge in US 10-year yield eased global growth concern which further added impetus to the sentiment.”

The major gainers in Monday’s trade were: Tata Motors – DVR, Tata Motors, Vedanta, Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki India and Reliance Industries among others.

The major losers in the trading sessions were: Indusind Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Power Grid Corporation of India, HDFC and ONGC among others.

(With additional inputs from Himali Patel)