Wednesday, June 22 2005 18:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The runaway bull-run on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Jun 22, 2005) gathered further momentum, as sustained hectic all-round buying drove the Sensex past another critical level of 7100 and ended up by 68.82 points to scale fresh all-time highs of 7145.34 with the outlook positive for more gains.

The benchmark hit an intra-day historic high of 7167.32 on frenetic demand from all quarters before correcting downward even as the general market sentiment remains upbeat.

With today's sharp gains, the benchmark has soared by a massive 238 points after the unveiling of the Ambani settlement on Saturday (Jun18, 2005).

RIL continued to be well bid, together with other select scrips such as HDFC, Larsen, Tisco, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto ITC, Maruti, TCS and ONGC displaying smart gains.

FII's led the bull charge, with other participants joining the buying bandwagon to send the benchmark spiralling to new record peaks even as caution prevailed in the market, but hardly any apprehensions of a steep downward correction, dealers said.

The Ambani settlement that triggered the smart rally on Monday (Jun 20, 2005), gathered further steam on the next two days due to strong inflows from FIIs, who placed bulk orders for front-line shares, they added.

Notwithstanding firm global oil prices at nearly $59 a barrel, the outlook remains favourable, encouraged by growth in domestic demand and select scrips consistently providing high returns.