Share prices on India’s benchmark stock index surged 17 per cent on Monday – recording their biggest one-day gain in almost two decades – as investors reacted euphorically to the Congress party’s election victory.

The gains on Bombay’s Sensex index, fuelled by hopes that the weekend poll result meant renewed stability and a strong economic reform agenda, were so great that trading had to be suspended for the day. The index of 30 stocks rose to 14,273.