Sensex on Monday rose to its all-time high of 22,795.58 but settled the day a few points lower at 22,764.83--its life-time closing high on hectic buying in blue-chip stocks l&T, ICICI Bank and SBI, while rupee lost a hefty 30 paise to end the day at almost one-month low of 60.59 against the dollar due to fresh demand for the US currency from importers, mainly oil refiners.
The 50-share Nifty of NSE breached the crucial 6,800-mark to end the day at it its all-time closing high of 6,817.65, a rise of 38.25 points or 0.56 per cent. It set a fresh all-time high of 6,825.45 intra-day. After a promising start, the BSE Sensex witnessed high volatility but a spurt of buying in the late afternoon trade lifted the index to its life-time high of 22,795.58. But it immediately pared some gains to settle the day at 22,764.83, a gain of 135.99 points or 0.60 per cent, from its previous close.
Capital inflows also boosted the market sentiment as they bought shares worth a net Rs 433.40 crore on last Thursday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.Mid-cap and small-cap indices also shot up by 0.79 per cent and 1.38 per cent respectively on sustained buying from retail investors and outperformed the Sensex.The market may remain volatile this week in view of expiry of futures and options April contract on Wednesday, brokers said.Sesa Sterlite zoomed 4.78 per cent, the best among Sensex scrips, after the the Supreme Court today lifted the one-and-a-half year old mining ban in Goa, but with some restrictions.
l&T with over 4 per cent gain and SBI at 2.62 per cent were two other prominent Sensex gainers.M&M at 3.54 per cent, BHEl 3.07 per cent, Bharti Airtel3.00 per cent Axis Bank 2.57 per cent, Maruti Suzuki 2.16 per cent, Coal India 1.84 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.55 per cent were among Sensex other gainers. However, Wipro fell sharply by 6.65 per cent on its disappointing revenue outlook for the next year. HUl was down 1.69 per cent.