Sensex above 8100 as rally continues


Strong FII inflows and good support from domestic mutual funds continue to fuel the rally and push the indices to new lifetime highs on a daily basis. The last 500 points on the Sensex was gained in just two weeks and there seems to be no stopping even after crossing 8000.

Markets opened the day with a good positive gap from Friday's closing and remained firm throughout the day. The up trend was not threatened even once during the session as many of the large cap stocks attracted buying interest.

The Sensex crossed 8100 with ease before noon and continued to gain strength in afternoon trades as well. The Nifty inched closer to the 2500 mark and touched a high of 2485 in afternoon trades. Both indices closed near the day's highs as the buying continued in closing hours as well.

Sensex closed at 8138, a gain of 78 points, and the Nifty at 2484, a gain of 29 points. Nifty September futures closed at a discount of 4 points to the spot index.

FMCG stocks attracted a lot of buying interest today as a healthy monsoon is expected to boost rural demand for consumer products. HLL and ITC were among the major gainers, both stocks closing more than two per cent higher.

Grasim, IPCL and GAIL were the biggest gainers on the Nifty while Glaxo, Colgate and Reliance Energy were the major losers.