The rupee failed to maintain its early gains after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to intervene in the currency market and it stopped the currency from gaining in strength.

The BJP-led NDA swept the 16th Lok Sabha Election and is on course to win as much as 300 seats out of 543, which is quite incredible.

At 12.30pm, the rupee was trading at 58.93 a dollar after opening at 58.92 a dollar. The local currency had closed at 59.29 yesterday.

In intra-day trade, the ruppe strengthened to 58.62 a dollar, but the RBI then decided to sell dollars in the market to stop rupee from getting stronger.

The benchmark equity index S&P; BSE Sensex hit a new high of 25,375.63 points, but then lost gains to trade at 24,756.51 points, up 851 points, or 3.56%.

The yields on the 10-year bond were trading at 8.72%.