Wednesday, September 28 2005 18:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Sept 28, 2005) whizzed past 8,600 level for the first time ever and ended at yet another new closing peak at 8606.03 bolstered by a surfeit of liquidity in the system even as the market witnessed a smooth roll over in the Futures in highly volatile trade.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index, which hit an all-time intra-trade high at 8,613.83, fluctuated in a wide range of 8,613.83 and 8,475.68 before ending the day at 8,606.03 against yesterday's close of 8,525.52, a net gain of 80.51 points or 0.94 per cent.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have been pumping in funds into Indian equity for the whole month, were believed to be heavy buyers in heavyweights like Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), ONGC, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), HDFC, ICICI Bank and SBI.

Domestic financial institutions and retail investors also joined the bandwagon, keeping up the dream run in the equity markets on strong hopes of excellent second quarter corporate earnings, brokers said adding, "The bullish trend was further aided by the Government's supportive statements."

Finance Minister P Chidambaram had asserted that there was no manipulation in the stock market and speculation is part of capital market activity.

Key stocks witnessed brisk activity during the last few minutes on heavy buying support from investors.

There seemed to be paucity of floating stocks in the market, a section of brokers said.

Infosys Tech, Tata Motor, Bajaj Auto, Grasim and Wipro showed moderate falls due to selling pressure from operators.

PSU stocks hogged the limelight. The BSE PSU Index, the Banks and the BSE Oil & Gas Index scored impressive gains.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index shot up by another 36.90 points to 4555.53 from previous close of 4518.63.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted smartly up at 1096.32 and 414.08 at close compared to previous close of 1087.28 and 411.60 respectively. The BSE-500 Index spurted by 27.44 points to 3524.19 from yesterday's (Sept 27, 2005) close of 3496.75 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 1602.89 from 1591.51.

The total volume of business was relatively low at Rs 3706.65 crore compared to Rs 3938.94 yesterday. FCS Software was the top traded scrip having clocked the highest turnover of Rs 277.59 crore followed by RIL (Rs 25.97 crore), Bharti Tele-Venture (Rs 221.99 crore), Satyam Computer (Rs 139.53 crore) and McDowell (Rs 124.32 crore).

RIL advanced by 12.55 to 800.30, SBI by 7.65 to 936.15, ICICI Bank by 11.15 to 599.05, BHEL by 26.30 to 1160.35, HDFC Bank by 15.35 to 695.75, HDFC by 37.20 to 1038.30, Dr Reddy's Lab by 3.30 to 811.65, Maruti Udyog by 4.75 to 564.10, ONGC by 29.15 to 1070.30, Satyam Computer by 1.45 to 541.95, TCS Ltd by 7.70 to 1469.35, Tata Steel by 1.10 to 417.60, Tata Power by 12.35 to 463.75, NTPC by 3.00 to 108.85, Ranbaxy by 2.05 to 508.95, HLL by 3.75 to 184.40, Hero Honda by 13.90 to 726.10 and Cipla by 3.50 to 362.80.

However, Infosys Tech dropped by 6.25 to 2469.80, Bharti Tele-Venture by 1.55 to 344.25, Bajaj Auto by 10.15 to 1646.25 Grasim by 7.95 to 1342.85, Tata Motors by 8.30 to 536.90 and Wipro by 3.95 to 372.25.