Sensex zooms 136 pts, closes at record high

With this gain, Sensex had risen by 296 points in the last two days. Driven by continuous bullish phase on the Nasdaq of the US and heavy buying by foreign funds, select heavy-weights like Infosys Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI, MTNL and ACC staged a handsome rally. Besides, Guj Ambuja Cement, Larsen, ITC, BSES and Grasim also posted hefty gains during the session.

FIIs were reportedly net buyers in majority of software scrips besides MTNL, ITC, HPCL and L&T. Domestic institutions picked up shares of Reliance, Hindustan Lever, GACL, ACC and BSES. Infosys Tech touched an all-time high of Rs 9,115 (Rs five paid up) during the session before closing at Rs 8,880, netting a gain of Rs 408.50.

Meanwhile, trading volume too crossed its previous high touching Rs 5,429 crore on the BSE thanks to huge buying in index-based counters by speculators and foreign institutional investors who were transmitting the optimism created by Nasdaq which closed at a high of 4320.63 on Monday up by 1.80 per cent. Dealers said that domestic institutions were sellers (with the exception of LIC and GIC which indulged in defensive buying) and UTI was reported to be a heavy seller at high levels in stocks such as NIIT, which lost by more than four per cent today.

However, speculators reportedly booked profits in some software scrips. As a result, Aftek Infosys, Cybermate, LCC Info, Mindteck, Omega Tele, Penta Tech and Synlog from the cash group hit the lower price band. In the specified group, twelve scrips including seven index-based ones were locked in the upper circuit filter. The cement sector stole the limelight. ACC was first to hit the upper circuit and then L&T too touched the upper limit of Rs 467. The effect was also felt on other cement counters like Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja, Kesoram Industries, India Cements and Century.