Mumbai: Euphoric over early projection of a comfortable win for George W Bush in the US Presidential elections, the market today (Nov 3, 2004) soared by 88 points to close at 5842.54, highest after April 23, 2004.

The BSE barometer had closed at 5925.58 on April 23.

Software majors led today's price rally, remaining in the limelight throughout the session on expectations of good prospects to the outsourcing business.

Bush was projected to win 28 States with 269 electoral votes, just four short of the majority needed.

In an upbeat mood, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index began strong at 5772.32 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 5845.50 before ending the day at more than six-month high at 5842.54 as against yesterday's close of 5754.76, a net rise of 87.78 points or 1.53 per cent.

Operators and retail investors, which were on a buying spree for the last couple of sessions, reportedly made heavy commitments in a number of blue chip counters.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and local mutual funds, which have been consistent net buyers in during the past several sessions, were also believed to have made heavy purchases in key counters including SBI, Wipro, Grasim, Tata Steel, ONGC, ICICI Bank and HDFC.

The easing crude oil prices and encouraging quarterly results also boosted the sentiment.

Banking stocks too were in the forefront on heavy buying from institutional investors.

Auto stocks, however, met with resistance due to profit booking by day-traders.