Monday, January 9 2006 10:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) continued its upsurge and today (Jan 09, 2006) touched yet another new peak at 9,689.68 during morning trade on the back of sustained FII inflows into the bourses.

The Sensex opened modestly higher at 9,643.92 against Friday's close of 9,640.29 and later rallied further to a new intra-trade record high of 9,689.68 before being quoted at 9,667.12 at 10.30 am, up by 26.83 points over last close.

Increased and consistent global liquidity is the prime factor behind the bullish trend, brokers said adding, "Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have pumped in a hefty Rs 1,943 crore in the first four days of the new calendar year.

The market is likely to continue its upward march with a few major corporates expected to announce encouraging quarterly results during the week, they added.

Reports that the petroleum ministry is working on a fresh blueprint to re-structure the oil and gas PSUs under its fold also had a positive impact on the market sentiment.

Meanwhile, the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has asked the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to impose a circuit filter of 50 per cent on the first day of the listing of IPOs.

Select blue chip counters scored handsome gains during early stages of the session.