The Sensex ended the day at a new record closing of 23551 poits, while the Nifty hit the 7000 peak and closed the day higher by 155 points at a record of 7014 points.

Banking stocks were once again the stars in trade with HDFC Bank leading the pack by rallying more than 4.5 per cent. State Bank of India and Federal Bank were the other gainers in trade today. The Bank Nifty hit a new record in trade crossing the 14,000 points mark.

Heavyweights, ITC and Reliance also contributed to gains with both the stocks rallying more than 3 per cent.

Technology stocks apart from Infosys disappointed the street with TCS, Wipro, Mindtree and NIIT Tech all ending the day lower.

Other stocks that ended the day weak from the Nifty were some of the metal names including the likes of Jindal Steel and Hindalco.

Shares in Indian Bank also ended the day lower after the bank reported a poor set of numbers. Select mid cap stocks saw hectic buying with Ashok leyland, Bharat Forge, Power Finance, Siemens and Unitech seeing stupendous gains.

Markets are likely to take direction from the exit polls due later today, until the final election results is known on Friday.

Meanwhile, markets across Asia had a mixed session in trade with Hang Sang and the Shanghai Composite gaining ground, while the Taiwan Weighted and the Straits Times lost ground.

GoodReturns.in