The Sensex opened with a bang at a new all-time high of 15,941 - up 272 points from its previous close - on the back of positive global cues.
The US Fed, on Tuesday, cut its benchmark rate by 50 basis points, for the first time in four years, to 4.75%. A move that resulted in a strong rally across the globe.
The buying momentum was so strong that the Sensex soon crossed a new landmark of 16,000, and went on to extend gains as the day progressed. The index hit an all-time, intra-day high at 16,335 - up 666 points from the previous close.
The Sensex finally ended with its biggest-ever single-day gain of 654 points at 16,323.
The index took only 52 trading sessions to move from 15,000 to 16,000.
While the BSE Mid-cap index advanced nearly 2% to 7117, the Small-cap index added 1% to 8871.
The BSE Realty index surged 5.8% to 8465. The Bankex and Oil & Gas indices rallied nearly 5% each to 8691 and 8924, respectively.
The market breadth was positive - out of 2,850 stocks traded, 1,541 advanced, 1,233 declined and 76 were unchanged.
BIG MOVERS...
All the Sensex stocks ended with gains today.
HDFC and HDFC Bank zoomed nearly 8% each to Rs 2,354 and Rs 1,326, respectively.
Bharti Airtel soared 6.5% to Rs 886. ONGC surged 6% to Rs 902, and Maruti was up 5.8% at Rs 926.
Reliance rallied 5.5% to Rs 2,173. Reliance Communications and ICICI Bank gained 5% each at Rs 564 and Rs 970, respectively.
Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto moved up 4.7% each to Rs 745 and Rs 2,512, respectively.
While Mahindra & Mahindra and SBI advanced 4.5% each to Rs 741 and Rs 1,770, respectively, Tata Motors and ITC added 3.7% each to Rs 722 and Rs 187, respectively.
Hindalco and Infosys were up 3% each at Rs 159 and Rs 1,853, respectively. ACC surged 2.7% to Rs 1,153.
MOST ACTIVE COUNTERS
DLF topped the value chart with a turnover of Rs 255.70 crore followed by Reliance (Rs 227 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 148.70 crore), Reliance Capital (Rs 137.65 crore) and Renuka Sugar (Rs 127.80 crore).
IKF Technologies led the volume chart with trades of around 1.85 crore followed by Ispat Industries (1.82 crore), Balrampur Chini (1.08 crore), IFCI (89.70 lakh) and Himachal Futuristic (87 lakh).
| SENSEX ZOOMS PAST 16,000…. | ||||
| Landmark | Strike Date | No of Days | Close | Gain/Loss |
| 16,000 | 19-Sep-07 | 52 | 16,323 | 654 |
| 15,000 | 06-Jul-07 | 144 | 14,964 | 102 |
| 14,000 | 05-Dec-06 | 26 | 13,938 | 63 |
| 13,000 | 30-Oct-06 | 135 | 13,024 | 117 |
| 12,000 | 20-Apr-06 | 19 | 12,040 | 144 |
| 11,000 | 21-Mar-06 | 29 | 10,905 | -36 |
| 10,000 | 06-Feb-06 | 48 | 9980 | 237 |
| (Gain/Loss is the net change over previous day) | ||||