Sensex at new peak of 8525

The Sensex defied sentiments across Asian markets, posting a gain of 48 points or 0.55 per cent to close at a lifetime high of 8525.52 on Tuesday.

However, the market continued to witness volatility with the Sensex gyrating over 140 points during the day, between 8585.76 and 8444.98.

Although the Sensex touched a new intra-day peak of 8585.76, it could not sustain the level in the wake of profit-booking by punters.

The Nifty also closed higher at 2574.85, up 17.5 points. Dealers said it was usual for markets to be flat-to-bullish towards the end of a month, ahead of the expiry of derivative contracts. All major Asian indices posted losses on Tuesday.

Japan's Nikkei fell by 82.59 points to 13310.04, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 84.43 points to 15168.52 and Singapore's Strait Times index lost 11.08 points to close at 2305.33. Only the Kospi index of South Korea closed flat with a three-point gain on Tuesday.

Almost all the BSE indices gained on Monday, albeit marginally. Broad-based buying interest was seen across a host of sectors, including auto, banking, oil and gas. But the FMCG, metal and tech stocks took a hit.

Major stocks like ICICI Bank, RIL, Tata Motors, HLL and ONGC contributed to the northward rally. However, ITC, Bharti Tele-Ventures, NTPC, BHEL and Maruti were under selling pressure.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors reported net investments of Rs 199.30 crore while domestic mutual funds made net purchases of Rs 133.44 crore yesterday after a slowdown in activity on Friday.