Sensex breaches life-time high of 15,000

Mumbai, July 6: After piercing a record 15,000 level to scale a life-time high at 15,007.22 today, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex soared by a whopping 102.23 points to finally settle on positive terrain at 14,964.12 aided by a rally in information technology (IT) scrips and buying momentum in cement stocks.

''It was a historical day for the markets, with the barometer Sensex hitting the 15,000 level. Except for the small hiccup in early trade, the market headed higher with the passage of time as buying momentum refused to die down. IT shares dominated the market throughout the day, ahead of their results. A fall in Rupee aided the rally in IT scrips. Buying was also seen in cement stocks, while banking shares saw profit booking,'' market analysts observed.

It had earlier opened firmly higher at 14,843.43 from it's previous close of 14,861.89.

The broader 50-scrip Nifty Index also surged by around 31 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to settle in the green at 4,384.85 from its previous close of 4,353.95 after opening marginally lower at 4,353.10 and touching an all-time high of 4,411.00 and an intra-day low of 4,304.00.

''It has taken seven months for the Sensex to move from 14,000 to 15,000. The index had first hit 14,000 on December 5 last year. In contrast, it had taken just 26 trading sessions for the Sensex to reach the 14,000 level after it had hit the 13,000-mark on October 30, last year. It took about 17 months for the Sensex to move from the 10,000 level to 15,000. The barometer index had first struck the 10,000 mark on February 6, last year,'' market pundits pointed out.

The total turnover on the BSE amounted to Rs 5,850 crore. The market breadth was strong, with small-cap and mid-cap shares also participating in the rally. 1,490 shares rose here and 1,176 declined, while 86 remained unchanged. Among the 30-scrip Sensex pack, 25 advanced while the rest declined.

The Indian Rupee today turned weak and was quoted at 40.47/48 against the US currency due to suspected intervention by the central bank and dollar buying by oil refinery companies, dealers said.

India's wholesale price index (inflation) rose 4.13 per cent in the 12 months to June 23, this year, higher than the previous week's increase of 4.03 per cent due to a rise in some food and mineral prices, government data revealed today.

The historic day's winners included Satyam Computers, Infosys Technologies, TCS, Wipro, Ambuja Cements, ACC, Birla Corporation, India Cements, Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Reliance Industries (RIL), Real-estate major DLF and Mahindra&Mahindra.

The prominent laggards were ICICI Bank, HDFC, Maruti Udyog and Cipla.

Most Asian markets rebounded from an early fall. Shanghai Composite surged after an initial fall. It surged 4.58 per cent at 3,781.34. Hang Seng was up 1.25 per cent to 22,531.74, Seoul Composite rose by 0.72 per cent to 1,861.01, Taiwan Weighted advanced 0.43 per cent to 9,188.31 and Straits Times gained 0.29 per cent to 3,561.96.

Majority of European indices were trading with gains.

US stocks closed mixed in post-holiday trading yesterday as a rebound in bond yields stifled Wall Street's excitement about new buyout activity and strength in the US service sector. The Dow fell 11.46 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 13,565.84. The Standard&Poor's 500 index rose 0.53 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 1,525.40, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 11.70 points, or 0.44 per cent, to 2,656.65.

UNI