Sensex crosses 20,000-peak after two years; closes a tad lower

After crossing 20,000 points level in early trade and again for a second time in the last hour of market, Sensex closed with a gain 80.41 points, or 0.40 per cent, at 19,986.82. This is the first time since January 6, 2011 that the index crossed the 20,000-mark.

ITC, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors and ONGC helped the market rise. However, Infosys, CIL, SBI and M&M were among Sensex losers. Traders booked profits in some counters that recently notched up good gains, experts said.

Brokers said the market remained in a bullish mood following GAAR postponement, amid hopes of rate cut after inflation declined to 3-year low of 7.18 per cent yesterday.

The sentiment improved further on steady good set of numbers from IT giant Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Tech and Axis Bank, they added.

The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 32.55 points, or 0.54 per cent, at 6,056.60, after touching day's high of 6,068.50.

"It was another strong day for the markets with the Sensex crossing the 20000 mark during the day. Strong results from early declarants have buoyed the sentiments of market. Markets are also expecting interest rates to moderate after WPI. Deferral of GAAR to April 2016 also helped," said Dipen Shah, Head of PCG Research, Kotak Securities.

Today's rally was led by stocks of rate-sensitive banking, realty and auto sectors on heightened expectations of a rate cut. RBI meets on January 29 to review its monetary policy. The realty sector index gained the most by 1.05 per cent, followed by bank index that inched up 0.72 per cent and the auto sector index rose by 0.30 per cent.