It was meant to be just another day for 45-year-old trader Bharat Shah at his Nariman Point office on Friday. Except that it wasn’t.

At 10 am, when it emerged on the office TV screen that the BJP-led NDA would be comfortably forming the new Government, putting all doubts of a hung Parliament to rest, the BSE Sensex vaulted 1,400 points to cross the 25,000-points mark.

Phones ran off the hook, frantic orders were punched in loudly on keyboards even as brokers did a little jig amidst loud cheers that erupted across the dealing room.

The office tea-seller Ramesh entered on cue only to be puzzled by his daily customers congratulating him. “We all told him that now he too has hope to become the country’s PM one day just like Modi,” added Shah.

Meanwhile, the mood on Mumbai’s Dalal Street remained jubilant and charged with political discussion and jokes on the outgoing Congress Party. Traders and small-time investors stood huddled watching the TV screen on the BSE building and sharing their views on who they thought would be the next Finance Minister.

Some even took photographs of the live TV screen flashing the latest electoral tally and called up relatives and friends to discuss the results. Members of the BSE Brokers Forum were spotted distributing sweets to the crowd gathered outside.

The sugarcane seller opposite BSE reported brisk business on Friday even as the cobbler next to his shop was seen enjoying his afternoon snooze oblivious to the noisy buzz around.

Transfixed

“This place hasn’t looked this full since 2008 when everyone on the streets stopped on their tracks and stood watching the live market screen transfixed,” said a bystander Ramesh Dwarkadas.

“The market was expecting NDA to do well but how well they had no idea. A clean sweep, thumping majority took most by surprise. Hence, after the initial profit-booking during the rally, markets stabilised,” said Bharat Shah.

“The key point of today’s rally has been the decisive vote for a single party which will result in a stable Government rather than coalition politics which has been the trend for the past 10-15 years,” added Girish Shah, Executive Director, KJMC Corporate Advisors.

Summing up the mood, the NSE on Friday clocked its highest ever turnover in equity derivatives of ₹4.37 lakh crore as investors cheered Narendra Modi-led BJP’s victory in the polls.

Turnover in index futures zoomed to ₹52,135.17 crore and in index options to ₹3.14 lakh crore, signalling traders capitalising on the decisive verdict.

The NSE reported the highest number of trades in equity derivatives at 52.41 lakh and 1.18 crore trades in the cash market, indicating the return of traders. The benchmark index Nifty crossed the 7,500-points mark in intra-day trading and the S&P BSE Sensex the 25,000-points mark, buoyed by the BJP’s impressive win.

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