Diwali dhamaka: Sensex closes at an all-time high

The Samvat year 2066 ended on a cheerful note with the Sensex closing at an all-time high.

Diwali sparkles came to stock markets a day early on Thursday as the BSE benchmark Sensex closed at an all-time high of 20,893.57 points by gaining almost 428 points on robust buying of blue chips like RIL,SBI and HDFC.

This leaves just 107 points to go for the Sensex to breach the landmark 21,000 points level. The Sensex closed at 20,893.57 points,supassing the previous record of 20,873.33 achieved on January 8,2008.

During the session,the index today touched an intra-day high of 20,917.03 points.

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Another benchmark index,the NSE Nifty,closed at 6,281.80 points,just six points shy of its record close at 6,287.85 on January 8,2008.

Following today’s rally,the Sensex is just 313 points away from its all-time intra-day peak of 21,206.77 points,scaled on January 10,2008. Equity analysts were enthusiastic the Sensex will surpass this level tomorrow during Muhurat trading.

Marketmen said the investor sentiment is upbeat after state-run Coal India’s stellar debut on the domestic bourses today and the US Federal Reserve’s announcement of a new stimulus package for the American economy.

“Markets across the globe gained on account of the second round of quantitative easing by the US. Firm listing of Coal India and a fall in weekly food inflation further boosted the investment sentiment,” Global Securities Research Head (Retail) Saurabh Jain said.

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Index heavyweight Reliance Industries zoomed nearly 3 per cent to close at Rs 1,097.

Coal India made a big-bang debut today and closed nearly 40 per cent higher than its IPO issue price of Rs 245 per share.

CIL shares gained to Rs 342.35 on the BSE during Thursday’s session,making the coal miner India’s fourth-most valued Indian entity with a total market cap of Rs 2.16 lakh crore.

Other heavyweights scrips also saw smart buying,with SBI climbing 3.15 per cent,HDFC 3.11 per cent and ICICI Bank 1.7 per cent.

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Jumping by 3.77 per cent,Tata Motors was the biggest gainer on the Sensex. Hindalco jumped 3.21 per cent,M&M 2.46 per cent and ONGC 2 per cent.

Barring Hero Honda and Bharti Airtel,all the Sensex stocks ended with gains. Hero Honda lost 1.31 per cent and Bharti Airtel 0.27 per cent.

All 13 sectoral indices on the BSE,except for consumer durables,ended with gains, with oil & gas and metal the major beneficiaries.

Other major gainers of the day include DLF,which advanced by 1.82 per cent,while BHEL was up by 1.63 per cent,HDFC Bank by 1.62 per cent and Tata Steel by 1.60 per cent.

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In the IT pack,Infosys rose 1.67 per cent,TCS 1.53 per cent and Wipro 0.45 per cent.

The Sensex has gained nearly 5,000 points,or over 31 per cent,since last Diwali. It will now open at the record level of 20,893.57 points during the muhurat trading session tomorrow,which marks the beginning of the new Hindu calendar year,Samvat.

Investor sentiment was positive across the globe on Thursday.

Stocks across the globe moved up,as investors took heart in the US Fed’s plan to buy USD 600 billion worth of government bonds to inject life into the faltering US economy.

In Asia,China’s benchmark Shanghai Index rallied by 1.85 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei Index by 2.17 per cent. Europe,too,was quoting firm in the afternoon session.

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The US Fed announced the much awaited and expected steps to spur economic growth,reduce unemployment and increase inflation. The US Fed will purchase a further USD 600 billion worth of longer-term treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011,at a pace of USD 75 billion per month.

“We expect good amount of buying coming in markets with further easing in US and expectation of easing in economies like Japan and further return of liquidity in domestic market after Coal India listing,” Jain added.