The stock market, on Tuesday, continued its spectacular run and the benchmark Sensex inched closer to the 17,000-mark, gaining 54 points on surge in shares of Reliance Industries and other oil stocks.

Despite the intra-day hiccups when market swung between negative and positive zones with a high level of volatility, the 30-share index closed 53.71 points up at 16,899.54. After crossing the 16,900 level for the first time ever, the index touched the day’s low at 16,676.98 points and scaled an all-time intra-day peak of 16,928.02, just 72 points away from the 17,000 milestone. In the current rally, which started on September 18 after an overnight interest rate cut in the US, the Sensex has gained close to 1,400 points or about nine per cent.

The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty index rose 6.85 points to close at 4,938.85, after reaching the high of 4,953.90 and low of 4,878.15 points during the day. Oil and gas stocks were the biggest gainers, with  RIL, gaining 1.82 per cent.