Mumbai: The markets made a powerful comeback on Monday as the Sensex rallied almost 216 points and reclaimed the 29,000-mark on hopes the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the ongoing elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The elections are the world’s largest this year and will have a key influence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s chances of clinching a second term in 2019. Election results are due out on Saturday.

Sentiment was also boosted as the country moved a step closer towards launching a long-awaited Goods and Services Tax (GST) from July after a panel of central and state finance officials finalised two key bills to be put before parliament.

The all-powerful GST Council approved the final draft of central GST (C-GST) and integrated GST (I-GST) and will take up for approval the state-GST and Union Territory-GST (UT-GST) laws at its next meeting due 16 March, which instilled a sense of confidence in investors.

“The expectation is that the BJP government will come into power in UP, and that is possibly driving the market a little more confident than before," said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Shares and Securities.

Also Read| UP election 2017: Campaign ends with showdown in Varanasi

The 30-share barometer remained up throughout and hit a high of 29,070.20, powered by a rally in RIL and other blue-chips. The index ended 215.74 points up, or 0.75%, at 29,048.19—its highest closing since 5 March 2015, when it had closed at 29,448.95.

The index has lost 152.04 points over the past two days. The optimism led to the NSE Nifty gaining 65.90 points, or 0.74%, to end at 8,963.45, a level last seen on 3 March 2015, too when it settled at 8,996.25. The rupee notched up gains against the dollar, which added to the sunny side.

Reliance Industries came out top on the heap, surging 3.69% and settling at a fresh 9-year high of ₹ 1,304.90, after the company announced that the promoters will be reshuffling their shareholding.

RIL has gone up by over 21% after its telecom venture Jio said last month that it will begin charging for data services from April. Dredging Corporation rallied 12.68% to close at ₹ 502, largely on reports of possible stake sale. Capital inflows continued, which ensured both the Sensex and the Nifty were back at their crucial levels.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net bought shares worth Rs1,528.48 crore on last Friday, according to provisional data. Globally, major Asian indices closed mixed. China’s Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose.

Japan’s Nikkei, however, fell as the yen jumped after North Korea fired four ballistic missiles, three of which landed in Japanese waters.

European shares sank at the start of trade after Germany’s troubled Deutsche Bank unveiled plans over the weekend to raise 8 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in fresh capital. Other major gainers that fed the rally were Adani Ports (2.48%), Tata Motors (2.30%), Bharti Airtel (1.81%) and SBI (1.79%).

As many as 23 stocks finished higher while seven, including TCS, Hindustan Unilever and Dr Reddy’s, ended lower. On the sectoral front, oil & gas zoomed 1.32%, followed by infrastructure, auto and power. Broader markets such as the BSE mid-cap and small-cap went up.

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