The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 378 points at 19,621 and then there was no looking back while touching an all-time, intra-day high of 20,025. It finally ended with a solid gain of 3.8 per cent equal to 734.80 points, which is the third biggest single-day gain, at a record 19,978. It took only 10 trading sessions to gain 1,000 points after it crossed the 19,000-mark on October 15, this year.

In all, the Sensex has gained 13.8 per cent (2,418 points) in the last six trading sessions.  It is interesting to note that the Sensex journey took three months to cross from 15,000 to 17,000 (from July 6 to September 26) but another 3000 points from 18,000 to 20,000 took just only 20 days from October 9 to 29.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty had hit an all-time high of 5,922.50 in late trade and closed lower at 5,906, higher 203 points.

As pointed out by various market intermediaries, liquidity has played an important role in this strong rally with heavyweights like Reliance and L&T, along with gains in HDFC, BHEL, ONGC and ICICI Bank, helped the index cross the magical 20,000-mark in the day’s trade.

Foreign money
One of the main reasons for the massive surge in stock indices is purchases by foreign funds. Foreign investors bought a record $17 billion in the nation’s equities this year. This also suggests that the P-notes scare is now history as foreign investors have taken that in their stride, and with domestic and retail investors joining the buying party, there seems to be no stopping to it. “We had predicted 20,000 in early September this year and our view is that it should be 23,000 by early next year. I would urge investor to book profits at those levels,” said Anil Kaul, Head, ICICIdirect.com.

Commenting on the liquidity factor driving the rally, Anil Advani, Head of Research, SBI Capital Markets felt: “Lot of foreign money has been coming to India, which has driven the market to new highs. This is a case of excess liquidity, but there could be a sluggish period when FIIs cash out in December. The impact of the P-notes curb will be seen slowly over 18 months.”

The market breadth was positive as out of 2,841 stocks traded, as much 1,581 scrips advanced, while 1,199 shares declined and 61 were unchanged during the day’s trade.