Monday, February 6 2006 17:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Powered by across-the-board buying spree from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), the Sensex today surpassed the 10,000 point psychological level for the first time to hit a new peak at 10,002.83 minutes before the close.

The BSE barometer scored the biggest gain of 238 points after September 26, 2005 when it had risen by 256.32 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (sensex) scaled the intra-trade record high of 10,002.83 before ending the day at an all-time closing peak of 9,980.42 against Friday's close of 9,742.58, a net rise of a whopping 237.84 points or 2.44 per cent.

FIIs heavily poured in their investments into equities as a sign of their confidence into India's growing economy.

Local funds, which have been flush with funds accumulated through unit schemes, too pumped in aggressively in blue chips on the back of the country's robust economic growth and generally encouraging corporate performance.

Setting aside reports that the profit growth rate of many companies was down to a 14-quarter low of 3.57 per cent in the quarter ended December 31, 2005, the market took a giant leap to the historic level in a pre-budget rally on a likely cut in railway freight rates by 20 per cent.

Bank, Refinery, metal and Auto shares led the charge and contributed immensely to the upward spiral of the market.

RIL, ONGC, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, Tata Steel, L&T, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, TCS Ltd and Infosys Tech showed sharp rises.

The activity in the small-cap and mid-cap segments wasrelatively low with retailers making selective purchases atthe prevailing market levels.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index spurted sharply by 104.15 points to 5,246.00 from previous close of 5,141.85.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex 200 were quoted sharply up at 1,256.73 and 473.38 at close compared to last weekend's close of 1,232.81 and 464.05 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index jumped by 72.05 points to 4,019.37 from last close of 3,947.32 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 1,853.83 from 1,808.42.

The volume of business was remarkably up at Rs 3,876.93 crore from at Rs 3,302.95 crore on Friday. RIL was the most active share with the highest turnover of Rs 239.76 crore followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 131.61 crore), Bharti Tele-Venture (Rs 125.13 crore), Wipro (Rs 125.12 crore) and Royal Orch (Rs 119.12 crore).

RIL by 23.55 to 720.15, ICICI Bank flared up by 36.55 to607.15, HDFC Bank by 12.60 to 744.60, SBI by 7.50 to 864.65,ONGC by 29.05 to 1190.60, Tata Motor by 16.45 to 734.60, Hero Honda by 21.55 to 870.55, Maruti Udyog by 6.70 to 736.30, TCS Ltd by 48.55 to 1679.60, Infosys Tech by 57.60 to 2844.75, HLL by 4.05 to 194.35, BajajAuto by 45.40 to 2185.45, ACC by 10.30 to 590.80, Bharti Tele-Venture by 369.55, Cipla by 12.35 to 496.00, Dr Reddy's Lab by 30.35 to 1190.40, Grasim by 17.75 to 1544.10, HDFC by 33.05 to 1337.90, Hindalco by 4.35 to 167.65, ITC by 4.20 to 156.75, Ranbaxy by 24.30 to 414.20, Satyam Comp by 12.90 to 739.40, Tata Power by 7.10 to 490.95 and Tata STL by 5.70 to 406.45.