Sensex scales 21,000...Nifty above 6300

Samvat 2066 was a memorable one for the Indian market if not spectacular. And the feel-good sentiment prevailed on Friday too, as the bulls extended their shopping spree and lifted the BSE Sensex above 21,000.



Not only that, the Sensex and the NSE Nifty finished at new closing highs while Coal India too added to its gains after a sparkling debut in the previous session.

A healthy trend across world markets also helped maintain the upbeat mood on the Indian bourses.

The BSE Sensex ended at 21,004.96, up 111 points or 0.5% from the previous close. It opened with a gap and breached the 21,000 level before hitting a day's high of 21,108.

It lost some steam towards the close of trade and touched a day's low of 20,961 but recovered to reclaim the 21,000 level.

On the other hand, the Nifty finished at a new closing high of 6,312.45, up 30 points from the previous close. It touched a day's high of 6,338 and a day's low of 6,303 after opening at 6,321.

The Sensex is now just 200-odd points away from it's all-time high level of 21,206.

The Nifty's all-time high is 6,357, which was struck on January 8, 2008.

Jaiprakash Associates, Hindalco, M&M, SBI, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Dr. Reddy's were among the top gainers in the Sensex and the Nifty.

SBI, ICICI Bank and Hindalco were the biggest contributors to the Sensex's gains.

Jindal Steel, Tata Power and L&T ended in the red.

Coal India closed at Rs. 349.65, up 2.1% from the last close on the BSE. It had earlier touched a day's high of Rs. 357.60 after opening at Rs. 350.

Outside the main indices, the main winners included Dish TV, Rain Commodities, Asahi India, Adhunik Metaliks, Onmobile, Anant Raj Inds, City Union Bank and Unity Infra.

Among the big losers were AIA Engineering, Sadbhav Engineering, Nava Bharat Ventures, Shriram Transport, Whirpool of India and SRF.