Sensex crosses 9,700-mark, ends at new high

To a large extent, market sentiment was also boosted by RBI's projection of GDP growth.

The Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index (Sensex) on Wednesday crossed the 9,700-mark during intra-day and ended 135.82 points higher due to heavy short covering by operators and retail investors on the last day of the January contract in derivatives.

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To a large extent, market sentiment was also boosted by Reserve Bank's projection of GDP growth, which the apex bank has revised upwards to 7.5-8 per cent for the fiscal while keeping the bank rates steady at six per cent.

The Sensex opened sharply higher at 9,580.30 against Tuesday's close of 9,549.92 and later, shot up to a historic high of 9,714.48, before ending the day at a new closing peak of 9,685.74, revealing a whopping 1.42 per cent rally over the last close.

The previous closing high was 9,648.08 points recorded on January four and the historic intra-day high was 9,689.68 touched on January nine, brokers said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers and liquidated shares worth Rs 318 crore in Cash Segment and also would up positions amounting to over Rs 775 crore in Futures on Monday, dealers said.

Shares from consumer durable, bank segments and auto were particularly firm on heavy buying.