The Hindu Business Line : Valentine's Day again!

THOSE in love with the stock market would not forget the Valentine's Day of Y2K. That (February 14, 2000) was the day when the 30-share Sensex, benchmark index of the country's business health and investor confidence hit its zenith of 6150.69. In hindsight it proved an illusion. But that is another tale.

Today, the second day of the fourth year of the new millennium, the Sensex decisively closed above the psychologically important level of 6000. The number is not important as other indices such as the NSE's Nifty or the sectoral indices of the BSE itself have set new records over the past few days. It was only a matter of time before the Sensex too crossed its previous highs. But the feat somehow was in order after the long anticipation.

The Sensex hit its 52-week low of the year on April 29, 2003, when it closed at 2904.44. Year on year, the Sensex has gained almost 80 per cent in value. It has gained 16 per cent in value from a month ago, 6 per cent from a week ago and nearly 2 per cent since yesterday.

The Sensex today accounted for nearly a quarter of the BSE's market capitalisation of Rs 13.33 lakh crore. Energy and information technology stocks account for more than 50 per cent of its weightage.

The index first crossed the 1000-point-mark on July 25, 1990. It crossed 2000 on January 15, 1992, 3000 on February 29, 1992, and 4000 on March 30, 1992. During that spectacular rally, the Sensex saw the largest gain in a single day on March 24, 1992, when it rose 426.1 points. It also saw the biggest single-day loss that year on April 28, 1992, when it fell 570.4 points.

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Valentine's Day again!