Tuesday, December 21 2004 21:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Unabated foreign fund inflows today (Dec 21, 2004) drove the Sensex to close at an all-time high of 6451.30 at the stock exchange in Mumbai, belying the anticipated concerns over a slowdown in FII remittances ahead of the year-end.

With sentiments distinctly positive for further gains, auto shares led the surge followed by banking and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) even as software and select pharma counters succumbed to profit booking.

The recently battered top heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) came back to limelight on news that the company board would meet next week to consider a buyback of shares, dealers said.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened sharply higher at 6429.25, but soon profit-booking wiped out all early gains and dropped to a low of 6400.56.

Later, emergence of fresh buying, lifted the Sensex to a new intra-day peak of 6461.64, before concluding at 6451.30, surpassing the previous all-time closing highs of 6420.38 logged on December 16 and showed a sharp gain of 48.30 points or 0.75 per cent over yesterday's (Dec 20, 2004) close of 6403.00.

Telecom shares also were in keen demand on statement given by Communication & Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) upto 74 per cent in the telecom sector was under consideration.

FIIs remained the net buyers even as it was expected that foreign funds inflow would slow down due to forthcoming Christmas holidays and caught short sellers on the wrong foot compelling them to cover their short positions, helping the price rally to some extent, they said.