Sensex hits 8700, falls

The nationwide strike failed to stop the market rally on Thursday as bulls once again grabbed centrestage and pushed indices further up. Pharma, tech and power constituents of the indices led the rally as the 30-share Sensex of the BSE Ltd gained 44.14 points to close at 8,650.17.

The Sensex crossed the 8,700-mark for the first time and even touch an intra-day high of 8,722.17. However, it fell back later on profit-taking. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 13.15 points to close at 2,611.20.

Among the Sensex stocks, BHEL led the gainers pack moving up by 5.37% to close at a new high of Rs 1,222.65. Pharma majors Cipla Ltd along with the tech heavyweights like Infosys, Satyam , Wipro Ltd and TCS also gained ground. Tata Steel, RIL, Tata Power and Bharti also closed in the black.