The BSE benchmark Sensex today scaled a new high of 33 months,despite losing early gains and ending up just 31 points as brisk selling in blue-chips like ITC,L&T and Infosys suffered damages in the last-hour trade. Intra-day,the Sensex had gained over 260 points before profit booking kicked in. Extending the gains for the third successive session,the 30-share barometer of the Bombay Stock Exchange ended up by 30.69 points,or 0.15 per cent,at 20,475.73. During the day,the Sensex had jumped by a whopping 261.7 points to touch 20,706.74,just 500 points short of its record high of 21,206.77 achieved on January 10,2008. In a similar trend,the National Stock Exchange's Nifty Index finished the day higher by 0.26 per cent at 6,159.45. It had breached the 6,200 level during the day. Reliance Industries extended Friday's gain and ended 1.14 per cent higher at Rs 1,017.90. RIL,which holds the maximum weight in Sensex,had jumped 2 per cent on Friday. Barring FMCG,technology and consumer goods,all sectoral indices on the BSE ended in the green. Pharma,financials,consumer durables,auto,metal and energy led the gains. With a fall of about 2 per cent,ITC led the losers pack. Hero Honda lost 1.85 per cent,Bharti Airtel 1.57 per cent,L&T by 1.54 per cent.
