Wednesday, December 29 2004 17:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Dec 29, 2004) ended at yet another peak of 6567.94 at the stock exchange even as heavy profit-taking pared sharp gains after the index pierced through the crucial 6600-barrier and hit all time highs of 6617.15 in early trade.

Early rally in shares was attributed to unabated foreign funds buying and a firm trend on Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 78.41 points and 22.97 points last night respectively.

But profit-booking at sharply higher levels ahead of the expiry of the December contract in Futures & Options segment tomorrow (Dec 30, 2004) kept gains to the minimum, dealers said.

Front-line IT shares like Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer and Wipro attracted fresh buying interest and helped the Sensex to close in positive terrain.

Top heavyweight and petro-chem giant, Reliance Industries (RIL) remained in the limelight after the company announced buy-back of shares at Rs 570 and closed with marked gains.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index resumed remarkably higher at 6594.39 as against yesterday's close of 6563.48 and immediately touched a new intra-day peak of 6617.15.

Later, fresh profit selling at higher levels pulled down index to a low of 6552.06 before concluding at 6567.94, a minor rise of 0.07 per cent over the previous close.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), the main driving force behind the robust rally were reported to have picked up shares worth Rs 29.60 on Monday while local funds were said to be net sellers on the same day.