<b>Sensex zooms past 20,000 </b>

The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 378 points at 19,621, and then there was no looking back. Sustained buying across-the-board, saw the index zoom past the 20,000-mark in late noon deals.

The index is now up 761 points at 20,005.

A strong rally in heavyweights like Reliance and L&T, followed by gains in BHEL, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank today helped the index cross the magical 20,000-mark today.

The index has taken only 10 days to gain 1,000 points after the index crossed the 19,000-mark on October 15.

The P-notes scare, it seems, has been taken in stride by foreign investors, and with domestic and retail investors joining the buying party, there is no stopping the rally.....

Larsen & Toubro has zoomed nearly 10% to Rs 4,254. HDFC has soared 9% to Rs 2,795.

BHEL has surged 7.5% to Rs 2,615. ONGC has gained 6.5% at Rs 1,231.

HDFC Bank has rallied 5.8% to Rs 1,635. Reliance has moved up 4.5% to Rs 2,813, and ICICI Bank has added 4% to Rs 1,233.

Reliance Energy is up 3.3% at Rs 1,725.

Out of 2,826 stocks traded so far, 1,591 have advanced, 1,170 have declined and 65 are unchanged.