The stock market zoomed to new peaks with the benchmark BSE Sensex gaining 249 points to settle at 15,550.13  following a sharp rally in index-heaviest Reliance Industries and other blue-chip stocks.

 RIL shares flared up by 4.2 per cent to a life-time high of Rs 1,896.45 on the company’s announcement of a hydrocarbon discovery in the Cauvery deep-water basin. Robust earning season and consistent buying spree by global investors buoyed the market sentiment. As many as 67 stocks scaled new peaks on Thursday. These include Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Grasim, IPCL and ICRA. The BSE barometer hit an all-time trading high of 15,593.31 before ending the day with a 1.63 per cent gain over Wednesday’s close of 15,301.17.

Similarly, the broad-based S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also scaled a new trading peak of 4,573 before ending at a life-time high of 4,562.10, a net rise of 62.55 points or 1.39 per cent over previous close of 4,499.55.

Though domestic investors shied away from the spiralling market, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained the principal driving force behind it.