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Sensex hits a new high of 21,321 in special Diwali trade

The BSE Sensex again hit a fresh all-time high in the special Muhurat trading session on Sunday, marking a strong beginning to the Samvat 2070, the Diwali-to-Diwali calendar year.

The Sensex surged to an all-time high of 21,321.53 just after the trading opened in the special session, surpassing its Friday's high of 21,293.

At its day's high, Nifty hit 6,342, nearly 15 points away from its record high of 6,357.10.

At the end of the Muhurat session, the Sensex ended at 21,239, up 42 points, while Nifty closed 10 points higher at 6,317.35.

(Also read: Five reasons why analysts are bullish on RIL shares)

Indian stock markets have been propelled by foreign inflows of around $3.5 billion since the Federal Reserve unexpectedly delayed tapering of its monetary stimulus in September. Foreign funds have bought $16.5 billion worth of shares so far this year.

That has made some investors cautious about whether a rally that has sent the index up 22 percent since a yearly low on August 28 can be sustained.

(Also read: Fund managers don't see retail investors joining market rally)

Prabhat Awasthi of Nomura Financial said for a sustainable stock rally the Indian economy needs to perform better.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram added a positive tone to the market sentiment when he said on Friday that India's current account deficit is likely to be $60 billion or less, thanks to rising exports, along with measures taken by the government to control imports and encourage investment inflows. The current account deficit in the previous year had soared to $88 billion. But he added a note of caution by asking investors to guard against excessive exuberance.

(Also read: Sensex may gain 20-25% by next Diwali: Raamdeo Agrawal)

Stocks in action
Among the stocks today, Ranbaxy Lab and BPCL rose over 2 per cent each while Tata Motors and JSPL were up over 1 per cent each.