The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 138 points at 17,467. Steady buying, thereafter, saw the index rally to newer highs as the day progressed. The index touched a fresh all-time intra-day high of 17,953 - just 47 points shy of another milestone of 18,000.
However, a sudden bout of profit-taking at higher levels saw the index slip into red to a low of 17,288 - down 665 points from the peak. The index soon rebounded into the positive zone and recovered most of its lost ground to end at 17,847 -- up 518 points. The NSE Nifty ended at 5211, up 142 points.
The index has now gained a whopping 15% (2,343 points) in the last 11 straight trading sessions.
The BSE Realty index zoomed 6.5% to 9775. While the IT index soared 4% to 4783, the Oil & Gas index surged 3.2% to 9995.
The market breadth was negative - out of 2,849 stocks traded, 1,698 declined, 1,108 advanced and 43 were unchanged today.
INDEX MOVERS...
Reliance Energy was on a roller-coaster ride. The stock first zoomed 7%, and then plunged over 8% from its previous close, before finishing with a gain of 7.5% at Rs 1,450.
Infosys soared 5.7% to Rs 2,001. NTPC and Reliance Communications surged over 5% each to Rs 217 and Rs 643,
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