Sensex surges 300 points, hits fresh record high

Mumbai, Jan 10: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sesitive index surges more than 300 points to hit a new all-time intra-day high at 21,172 on strong buying interest in blue-chips stocks.

Sensex resumed the day on positive note at 20,930.28, gaining 60 points from its previous close of 20,869.78 in the early trade and followed the positive rally amid high volatility.Similarly, broader based Nifty index on National Stock Exchange (NSE) was at a high of 6,333.00, gained over 60 points from its previous close at 6,272.55 in the early trade.

The market hit record high on opening, mirroring gains in the US market. Banking and auto stocks were trading at a huge positive gain. ICICI Bank and Tata Motors led the positve rally.

Market breadth was positive. Out of 30, 24 stocks from the Sensex pack were in green.

The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.22 per cent to 9,888.88. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.79 per cent to 13,475.59. ICICI Bank galloped over 6 per cent on sustained buying interest in the market. Followed by Tata Motors flared up 2.54 per cent, Mahindra&Mahindra rose by 2.20 per cent, Reliance Communications gained 1.73 per cent, Tata Steel moved up by 1.29 per cent and Bajaj Auto rose 1.06 per cent.

As per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FII)s sold shares worth a net Rs 392 crore on Wednesday, January 9, 2008. Domestic funds bought shares worth a net Rs 85.51 crore on that day.

FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 889.98 crore in the futures&options segment on Wednesday. According to data released by the NSE, FIIs were net sellers of index futures to the tune of Rs 533.28 crore and bought index options worth Rs 195.28 crore. They were net sellers of stock futures to the tune of Rs 556.03 crore and bought stock options worth Rs 4.05 crore.

UNI