Indian stock-index futures advanced, signaling the benchmark equity gauges will extend gains from all-time highs, before exit-poll results that may provide clues to the outcome of national elections.

SGX CNX Nifty Index futures for May delivery climbed 0.4 percent to 6,920.5 at 10:44 a.m. in Singapore. The underlying CNX Nifty Index on the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. gained 3 percent to close at a record 6,858.80 on May 9. The S&P BSE Sensex (SENSEX) added 2.9 percent to 22,994.23, also an all-time closing high. The Bank of New York Mellon India ADR Index of U.S.-traded shares rallied 3.6 percent to 1,251.74.

Indian elections that began on April 7 draw to an end today, with the final round of polling in 41 constituencies. Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said exit poll results will be allowed to be telecast after 6:30 p.m., CNBC reported. Opinion polls indicate the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party will secure the most seats, ending the Congress Party’s decade-long rule. Results will be announced by May 16.

“The market would react to exit-poll numbers as they start trickling in once the final phase of polling gets completed by 12th May,” Sanjeev Zarbade, vice president of private-client group research at Kotak Securities Ltd., said by e-mail. “The focus remains on the approaching D-day.”

Inflation Due

The government is due to release inflation data today. India’s consumer prices probably increased 8.5 percent in April from a year earlier, according to the median of 33 estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

The Sensex has climbed 17 percent since Sept. 13, when the BJP named Narendra Modi as its candidate for prime minister. The rally may extend if the party and its partners win more than 266 seats, approaching the 272 required for a majority, according to a Bloomberg survey of 19 brokers and investment advisory firms.

The benchmark gauge trades at 14.3 times its projected 12-month profits, compared with the average multiple of 14.6 over the past five years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is valued at 10.5 times.

Overseas investors bought a net $ 88 million of Indian shares on May 8, the 13th straight day of purchases, taking this year’s inflows to $ 5.6 billion. They have pumped more than $ 10 billion into local stocks and bonds this year amid cooling inflation, shrinking deficits and a strengthening rupee.

To contact the reporter on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Patterson at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net Phani Varahabhotla, Richard Frost