Mumbai: The market today (Nov 17, 2004) zoomed past the crucial 6000-mark and ended at a nine-month high of 6016.58, paving the way for the anticipated stocks rally that could drive Sensex to historic peak of 6249.60 in the near future.

The BSE Barometer last closed over the 6000-level at 6027.02 on February 18, 2004.

Banking stocks continued to be in the limelight reacting to the Government's steps towards banking reforms. Last week, the Government announced plans to introduce a slew of legislations to strengthen the banking sector.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened moderately higher at 6000.11 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 6036.70 before ending at 6016.58 as against yesterday's (Nov 16, 2004) close of 5996.70, a net rise of 19.88 points or 0.33 per cent.

Well supported by consistent FII inflows amid falling global crude oil prices, the market stood on a strong footing with sound economic fundamentals and projections of a robust 6-6.5 per cent GDP growth this fiscal.

Statement by Finance Minister P Chidambaram that India will continue to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world coupled with his assertion that the Government will take more fiscal measures to stem inflation is expected to further boost the market sentiment.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reported sizeable net investments of Rs 851.30 crore during last week while crude oil prices slipped below $46 a barrel in Asian trade this morning.

Brokers are strongly optimistic that the benchmark will surpass the intra-day historic peak of January 19, 2004 by the end of the year.