Sensex races past 11,700 mark before settling at 11,638 pts

Mumbai, Apr 4: The Indian stock markets once again out-performed the world markets with 0.64 per cent or 73.65 points gain to a new all time high close of 11,638 points for the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex).

Soon after opening, the benchmark index of the BSE crossed 11,700 mark first time ever touching an all-time high of 11,710.69 after yesterday's historic close at 11,564 points.

But then Sensex opened with a gain of 35 points at 11,599.80 as compared to the last close of 11,564.36.

But domestic markets did seem to have an impact of moderate close of world markets as there was a sharp fall to day's low of 11,570 points with a fall of 140 points.

The US markets had a mixed day with the NYSE index closing 0.44 per cent up, Dow Jones closing 0.32 per cent up and US technology stocks index Nasdaq closing 0.13 per cent down.

Nearer home the, world's second largest market index Japanese Nikkei closed lower by 0.23 per cent.

Banking sector led the bull run today with gains being registered all across the banking counters. BSE Bankex index was up by 2.45 per cent.

HDFC Bank was up by 7.58 per cent, SBI was up by 1.29 per cent and ICICI Bank was up by 1.52 per cent.

SBI today crossed Rs 1,000 mark and touched a high of Rs 1,005.75 and finally closed at Rs 996.20.

Midcap banks like Andhra Bank (5.04 per cent), IndusInd Bank (3.75 per cent), Centurion bank of Punjab (5.44 per cent), Oreintal Bank of Commerce (3.61 per cent), Dena Bank (9 per cent) too made good gains.

Among the Sensex gainers were HDFC Bank, Ranbaxy, ITC, Larsen&Toubro, ICICI Bank, BHEL, SBI, Cipla, NTPC and Reliance.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index crossed 3,500 mark this morning going up to 3,508 points, but dropped sharply and finally closed at 3,483 with a gain of nine points.

Besides banking the BSE indices of Capital Goods sector was up by 1.20 per cent, FMCG sector was up by 1.18 per cent and Oil&Gas sector was up by 0.99 per cent. Reliance Industries continued to move up gaining by 1.01 per cent to Rs 837.65 while another oil&gas giant ONGC dipped by 1.96 per cent to Rs 1,288.65.

The top losers on the Sensex today were ONGC, Grasim Industries, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Tata Motors, Satyam Computers, Bharti Tele, Bajaj Auto, Hindalco, Dr Reddy's Lab and Wipro.

Gallant Metal made its debut on the stock markets today opening at Rs 12 against the issue price of Rs 10 per share on the NSE. The scrip touched a high of Rs 14.75 before closing at Rs 14.40 with a premium of 44 per cent.

On the BSE Gallant Metal opened at Rs 11.05 and touched a high of Rs 14.40 and finally closed at Rs 14.10.

In total more than 8.24 crore shares were traded during the day on NSE/BSE.

There was a block deal in the Bharat Forge of 7.5 lakh shares at the rate of Rs 451.50 per share on the BSE.

UNI