Sensex closes at record high

It was fire-cracker time in India's financial and commercial capital today, on the eve of Diwali, the festival of light and sounds, as traders, punters and institutional investors ratcheted the benchmark index, the Sensex, to an all-time high closing of 20,893, 20 points more than the previous best seen in January 2008.

On a day when the Coal India scrip listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), following the biggest IPO in India, with a hefty 40 per cent premium to its offer price, the Sensex careened to a record closing.

However, it failed to breach the lifetime intra-day high of 21,206 that it struck on 10 January 2008.

The Coal India scrip, which had an offer price of Rs245, closed at Rs342, as investors furiously bought into the scrip. Spurring the markets northwards were global cues, including the announcement by the US Fed of a hefty $600 billion injection to boost the domestic economy.

Most Asian markets also saw significant gains, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan rising by 2.17 per cent, the Hang Seng gaining 1.62 per cent and the Kopsi in South Korea recording 0.34 per cent rise. Even European markets were trading higher, with the CAC 40 in Paris and the FTSE in London gaining by nearly two per cent.

Samvat 2066, the traditional Hindu calendar year, ended on a bright note for the Sensex. In the previous year – corresponding to October 16, 2009 – it closed at 17,322.82. The index has gained by a whopping 3,500 points over the year past year, buoyed by hefty inflows from foreign institutional investors. (See: Coal India, Fed herald Diwali; Sensex ends at all-time high) 
Muhurat trading for the new year will be held during a special, 45-minute session tomorrow evening.