Sensex settles at all time high of 16,899.54

Mumbai, Sept 25: Continuing its record-breaking march, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today advanced by a modest 53.71 points to settle at an all-time closing high of 16,899.54.

''Going by the recent rally, it was widely expected that the barometer index might breach the new psychological barrier of 17,000 today. It had even come within striking distance in its all-time intra-day high of 16,928.02. But, as the day progressed, the appreciating Rupee cast a shadow on exports, while another dampner came from weak European markets, which open after the Indian markets. Consequently, the market breadth remained weak, and gains were capped,'' market analysts surmised and said that Reliance Industries hit an all-time high in late trade.

Similarly, among the broader markets, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also swelled by a nominal 6.65 points to settle in the green at 4,938.85 after striking an all time high of 4,953.90.

The revised trading timing on the bourses due to sun outage became effective from today. The stock exchanges have extended trading timing by 45 minutes from today onwards to Oct 9 due to loss of satellite connectivity during this period. Trading will stop on NSE at 1125 hrs and will re-open at 1210 hrs. The final closing will be at 1615 hrs, instead of 1530 hrs.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7468 crore. However, the market breadth was weak as 1,643 shares declined as compared to 1,081 that rose and 329 were unchanged. Out of the Sensex pack, 16 stocks declined while 14 advanced.

L&T, M&M, SBI, Reliance Energy, SBI, ICICI Bank, TCS and ONGC edged lower, while Bharti Airtel, Hindalco industries, Cipla, HDFC Bank and Hindustan Lever were the day's leaders.

BSE Realty index was the top loser among the sectoral indices today. Realty stocks had rallied after last week's cut in interest rate by the US Federal Reserve.

European markets which opened after Indian market were weak today, France's CAC tanked 58 points or 1.04 per cent to 5,633,Germany's DAX sank 52 points or 0.68 per cent to 7,735 and UK's FTSE 100 slumped 65 points or 1.01 per cent to 6,400.

Frontline information technology (IT) stocks recovered from the initial fall. TCS was down 0.42 per cent at 1,001 and Infosys gained 0.21 per cent to Rs 1,767. IT firms derive a major share of their revenue from exports and a rise in rupee against the dollar hits their revenue.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL), rose 2.01 per cent to Rs 2,404. It hit an all time high of Rs 2426 in the late trade.

The stock had witnessed a solid surge over the past few days.

Ranbaxy, India's biggest drug maker in terms of sales, rose 1.22 per cent to Rs 422, after it yesterday said that it had signed a licencing agreement with Australia's Sirtex Medical to market the Australian firm's liver cancer product SIR-Spheres. The product, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, is used to treat patients with inoperable tumours from primary colorectal cancer that have spread to the liver.

ONGC declined 0.13 per cent to Rs 929, even after it said after trading hours yesterday that it will invest at least USD 150 million over the next seven years to explore three new deepwater blocks in Myanmar. Myanmar's government has awarded 100 per cent participating interest in blocks AD-2, AD-3 and AD-9 to ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC.

BPCL rose 6.3 per cent to Rs 345.20 on reports a consortium of BPCL and UK's Premier Oil had found reserves estimated at 8-18 trillion cubic feet in the remote Cachar region in northeastern India. The company has however, denied the reports.

Asian markets were mixed today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 100 points or 0.38 per cent to 26,451. Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 89 points or 0.54 per cent higher at 16,401. Stock markets in South Korea and Taiwan were closed for public holidays.

US stocks fell in its last trading session as financial shares weakened on news that Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank may take a big hit from subprime mortgage investments, while a landmark strike at General Motors raised concern about the economic outlook.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished the day down 61.13 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 13,759.06. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index ended down 8.02 points, or 0.53 per cent, at 1,517.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 3.27 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 2,667.95.

UNI