Monday, July 11 2005 17:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (July 11, 2005) zoomed by 94.66 points to end at an all-time high of 7306.74 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on frantic buying spree by foreign funds following a sharp rise in the global stock prices coupled with fall in crude oil.

Earlier, during trading, the index had shot up to touch an historic intra-day high of 7320.25 points.

The BSE benchmark 30-shares sensitive index started higher at 7227.51 as against the last weekend close of 7212.08.

Thereafter, it continued to rise steeply and after hitting a lifetime intra-day high of 7320.25, ended at an all-time high of 7306.74, showing a whopping 1.31 per cent rise over the previous close.

Attributing the heavy FII buying to steep rally in the world stock prices, brokers said in the Asian markets, Nikkei shot up by 108.80 points, Hang Seng by 192.77 points and Singapore ST index by 25.20 points.

Similarly in London, FTSE-100 index hit three-year high at its opening. Elsewhere, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied by 146.85 points and Nasdaq Compositive Index by 37.22 points.

Meanwhile, the crude oil also fell below the $59 per barrel level. At midday, the benchmark New York contract for light sweet crude in August fell to $58.87 per barrel from Friday's level of $59.63 a barrel, brokers said.

Among gainers, RIL, ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Grasim, Dr Reddy, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Hindalco, L&T, ONGC, BHEL and TCS closed remarkably higher on heavy buying.