The BSE benchmark index opened strongly at 17,467.41, and touched a record high of 17,729.94 in the opening time. The Sensex continued its positive rally as sustained buying interest was witnessed in the heavyweights; further optimistic worldwide cues chaired the rally. All sectors were trading in positive.

Asian stocks also boosted after Citigroup made an offer to purchase the resting 32% of Nikko Cordial Corp. Many forecasters were of the belief that this may encourage merger & acquisitions. The financial stocks had dipped after the US subprime slide down.

The BSE Midcap arose 0.50% and BSE Smallcap ascended 0.56%.

Technical Analyst, Vishwas Agarwal said, “Market may move sideways in the coming session due to the unexpected events, but the overall mode of the market is positive and strong.`` Showing no sign of bearishness Vishwas said, ``I will be bearish only after FII inflow turns negative or slows down and corporates come out with poor results than their past performances. The support for BSE is at 17,150 and 16,666 and the upward target is 17,777 and 18,000.”

Out of 2005 stocks traded at the BSE, 1,559 progressed, 412 slumped whereas 34 remained unaltered.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto ascended 0.97%, BSE Bankex arose 1.93%, BSE IT climbed up 2.09% and BSE Realty gained 7.02%, BSE Metal went up 2.155%.

The major performers on the index were Reliance Comm that climbed 7.04% to Rs 655.00, Reliance Energy, which ascended 3.24% to Rs 1,393.10 and Grasim zoomed 2.79% at Rs 3,700.00. NTPC, ONGC, Infosys, Reliance Industries and TCS also moved up.

There were no losers among the BSE Sensex stocks    .