Happy that Sensex above 20,000 mark: Pranab

Cheering the stock market rally that pushed the benchmark Sensex above 20,000 points, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today said that he was happy about the milestone.

"We all know that the Sensex is always a little bit unpredictable. (But) I am happy that for the first time after January 2008, it has crossed 20,000," Mukherjee said here.

The Minister was replying to reporters' query about his views on the stock market benchmark's new milestone.

The index last traded above 20,000 level on January 17, 2008. Prior to that, the index had scaled its life-time peak of 21,206.77 points on January 10, 2008.

However, a meltdown on the bourses, in line with a global downturn, led to a sharp plunge in the index, pushing it to near 8,000 level in October 2008.

However, the markets started recovering by March 2009 and a sharp rally has been recorded over the past couple of weeks during when the Sensex has gained close to 2,000 points.

It scaled a high of 20,088.96 points within minutes of market opening this morning, but pared some of the gains later and was trading at 19,950.55 points at 1200 hrs.