Car major Maruti Udyog (MUL) scaled a 52-week high.

Extending the recent surge, the barometer BSE Sensex jumped 55.54 points or 0.68% to settle at a lifetime closing high of 8,193.96. The Sensex hit the 8,200-mark in late trading.

Bajaj Auto (up 3.9% to Rs 1,650), cellular services major Bharti Tele-Ventures (BTL) (up nearly 3% to Rs 344.50), HDFC (up 2.6% to Rs 957), Maruti Udyog (up 2.5% to Rs 523), State Bank of India (up 1.9% to Rs 884.90) and ITC (up 1% to Rs 1,888) all moved higher.

Gains in index heavyweight Infosys Technologies also aided the Sensex’s surge to a new high – Infosys being an index heavyweight. The stock added on 1% to Rs 2,452. Gains in two private sector banks, ICICI Bank (up 1.1% to Rs 518.50) and HDFC Bank (up 1.9% to Rs 685), too, boosted the barometer index.

Select side counters spurted today. Buying was conspicuous in FMCG, and PSU bank scrips. Though the market breadth was positive, it weakened substantially during the course of trading. There were 1,393 gainers on BSE as compared to 1,246 losers. By the first half an hour of trade, the advance-decline ratio was a robust 2.3:1.

The market has risen sharply in the past few days led by liquidity driven rally. While there was a lack of any clear trend in FII investment since the past three days, local mutual funds stepped up buying. Data released by Sebi after trading hours on Monday showed that local mutual funds bought shares worth a net Rs 284.71 crore on Friday (9 September 2005), on the top of an inflow of Rs 183.31 crore in the preceding trading session on Thursday (8 September).

The market has been on a bull run for a while now, but the latest surge has been quite sharp and swift – it took just 55 days for the Sensex to move to the 8,000 level after it had first hit the 7,000 level on 20 June 2005.

The market has risen sharply in the past four months on the back of robust FII inflow, and boosted by strong corporate earnings. From a low of 6,195.15 on 2 May 2005, the Sensex has risen a staggering 1,998.81 points or 32.2% to the current 8,193.96. The cumulative FII inflow in equities in calendar 2005 (till 9 September 2005) has reached Rs 34584.70 crore ($ 7.9 billion). In the whole of calendar year 2004, the inflow aggregated Rs 38,965.10 crore ($ 8.5 billion).

Over the last two years, the market has rocketed on solid FII inflow. The initial value buying (due to attractive valuations) transformed into a bull market on solid corporate earnings growth. From a low of 2,924.03 on 25 April 2003, the Sensex has risen 5,269.93 points or 180% to the current 8,193.96. In calendar year 2003, FIIs put in Rs 30458.70 crore ($ 6.59 billion), followed by an inflow of $ 8.5 billion in 2004 and $ 7.9 billion in the first eight months of calendar 2005. The rise in the small- and mid-cap universe has been much steeper over the last two years than their large cap peers.

A host of Sensex constituents like Reliance Industries, Bhel, Hero Honda, HDFC Bank, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja Cements (GACL), Grasim Industries, Cipla, L&T, NTPC, and ONGC, hovered at close to their all- time high levels at present.