Sensex soars 111 points at 8,318

Stocks continued their upward journey today with benchmark indices posting gains for the fifth consecutive day. The BSE Sensex gained 110.97 points today to close above the 8,300-mark at 8317.90.

With this, the index has gained more than 632 points during the past five trading sessions. Today's rally also marked the third successive session when the benchmark index gained more than 100 points. The S&P Nifty closed the day at 2492.65, up 31.05 points.

In the currency market, the rupee breached the 46 mark to test the 46.05 level in early trades but bounced back to close at 45.80 on the Reserve Bank of India's intervention through state-run banks, which supplied dollars to the market. Foreign institutional investor (FII) flows, too, helped change the sentiment in the currency market.

Renewed buying interest by FIIs is also cited as the main reason behind the surge in the stock market. After selling more than Rs 3,800 crore in October, FIIs turned net buyers of equities starting November 2. In the two sessions until Monday, FIIs had bought more than Rs 900 crore worth of equities.

"A low overhang of leveraged positions and a step up in fund buying-activity resulted in the extension of the positive momentum," said Rahul Rege, head of sales and business development at Sharekhan.