Saturday, June 25 2005 16:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Barring a brief pause on Thursday (Jun 23, 2005), the bull charge on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was unstoppable, as sustained hectic all-round buying, led by foreign funds sent the Sensex soaring to historic peaks of 7148.62, a whopping gain of 242.10 points or 3.51 per cent during the week.

The benchmark also hit new intraday record peaks of 7178.04 on Friday (Jun 24, 2005), surpassing the earlier high of 7167.32 on Wednesday (Jun 22, 2005) after the index had touched then all-time closing highs of 7145.34.

With the exception of Thursday's breather, the Sensex hit record peaks practically every day, triggered by the amicable settlement between Ambani brothers.

The Reliance group led the sharp upsurge, followed closely by software counters, which transcended to all other shares, as the market sentiment turned upbeat.

Arrival of the monsoons, resumption of FII inflows and centres' projection of a higher GDP growth in the current fiscal also boosted the outlook of the market, dealers said.

So far the market has been driven by good liquidity support from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have invested heavily.

FIIs were net buyers of Rs 1,468 crore on Wednesday, the highest single-day inflow since March 14 and pumped in over Rs 3290 crore in the current month so far after being net sellers in April and May.

A stellar performance by RIL saw the scrip hit 52-week highs, surging by over eight per cent to close at Rs 654.70 following the smooth settlement of the vexed ownership issue in the Reliance group companies.