Sensex opens at new peak of 14,110.44 pts, up by 54 pts

Mumbai, Jan 15 (UNI) The sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today opened an all time high at 14,110.44 points with a massive gain of around 54 points from its last close of 14,056.53 points, on fresh heavy speculative demand by FIIs and some mutual funds, brokers said.

The market opened with a bang, extending gains from Friday, as buying continued on back of firm global markets, and on resumption in FII-buying.

Later, the BSE Sensex was up 123.69 points, at 14,182.60. It had surged again to an all-time high of 14,200.41, in early trade, the low for the day being 14,110.44.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 4,052.85 points. The index recorded a new high at 4,099.65 points. But it came down at 4,052.65 points in intra day. The current index again touched a new peak at 4,084.50 points with a modest gain of 32 points from it last close of 4,052.45 points.

Among the 30-Sensex pack, all except Tata Motors (down 0.05 per cent to Rs 940) advanced.

TCS was the top gainer, up 2.84 per cent to Rs 1,363, on a volume of 1.07 lakh shares.

HDFC Bank (up 2.50 per cent to Rs 1,089.50), Bajaj Auto (up 2.30 per cent to Rs 2,832) and REL (up 1.47 per cent to Rs 532.50) were the other gainers.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.48 per cent to Rs 1,360 on a volume of 3.55 lakh shares.

CMC jumped 25 per cent to Rs 878, after the company reported a 69 per cent jump in net profit for December 2006 quarter.

US stocks rose for a third day on Friday, driving the Dow to another record high as energy shares rebounded with oil prices and data showing surprisingly robust December retail sales underscored optimism about economic growth. US retail sales grew in December at the fastest pace since July.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.10 points, or 0.33 per cent, to end at 12,556.08. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index advanced 6.91 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 1,430.73.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 17.97 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 2,502.82.

Benchmark US crude oil futures rose 24 cents to USD 53.23, a barrel in Globex electronic trading on Monday, extending gains from Friday as traders price in the risk that OPEC will cut supply to arrest a price slide of about 15 per cent since the start of the year, brokers added.

UNI