Friday, December 31 2004 18:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: An unprecedented last day surge in FII inflows sent the benchmark spiralling to life-time closing highs of 6602.69 on the stock exchange today (Dec 31, 2004), a massive single session rise of 80.15 points with sentiments upbeat for a smart take-off in the new calendar year 2005.

December will go down in Indian history of the bourses as the index posted the maximum gains and scaled new heights practically every day on the back of robust Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) buying.

FIIs pumped in nearly $ 8.40 billion (Rs 38,415 crore) in the current year, the highest ever in any calendar year.

The BSE barometer spurted by 763.73 points or 13.08 per cent in the current year, mainly driven by hectic FII buying, boosted by the buoyant conditions following the continuation of the reform process by the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened with upside gap at 6541.38 as against yesterday's close of 6522.54 and rallied further to a high of 6609.78 before concluding at 6602.69, up by 1.23 per cent.

Spurt in the Sensex could be gauged by sharp to moderate rise in 24 out of 30 index-based scrips including heavyweights like RIL, Infosys Tech, SBI, ITC, Tata Motors, BHEL, Grasim, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Satyam Computer and Ranbaxy.

Led by banking segment, most of the scrips attracted heavy buying in anticipation of a further rise in prices in the New Year, dealers said.

Reflecting the rally in bank shares, the sectorial Bankex spurted by 85.18 points to close at 3721.97 from previous close of 3636.79.