Monday, June 20 2005 17:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Jun 20, 2005) breached the critical 7000-mark for the first time in Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) history before ending at an all-time closing high of 6984.55, spurred by the stellar performance by Reliance group shares following an amicable settlement between Ambani brothers.

Software sector too attracted brisk activity on heavy buying support prompted by strong expectations of excellent performance by IT major Infosys Technologies in the first quarter of the fiscal.

The euphoria over the agreement was so intense that even the hike in petrol and diesel prices failed to have any impact on the general market sentiment.

The BSE Barometer has scaled the lifetime intra-trade peak of 7001.55, surpassing earlier trading record of 6954.86, set on March 9 and also broken the closing record of 6915.09, touched on March 8.

Led by the top heavyweight RIL, the market was driven by a sharp rally in select index scrips like REL, REL Capital, Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers, TCS Ltd and Wipro.

The benchmark ended at 6984.55 as against last Friday's close of 6906.52, a net rise of 78.03 points or 1.13 per cent.