The main driving forces for the index are strong corporate results, along with a steadily growing economy, stable crude prices, and stable interest and inflation rates, market players said. Institutional investors too are pumping in money into the market and supporting the bullish run. The day's rally added a little over Rs 56,000 crore to investors' wealth with BSE's market capitalisation now at Rs 3,316 lakh crore.

The day's trading showed a trend similar to the one witnessed during the recent rally. While frontline stocks continued to attract huge buying interest, small and midcap stocks lagged behind. As a result, compared to a 1.5% rise of the sensex, BSE's Midcap Index gained a marginal 0.2% while the Smallcap Index showed a modest 0.3% decline during the day. As a result, despite the rise in the benchmark index, there were 1,446 laggards on the BSE compared to 1,097 gainers.

Banking shares led the day's session. Investors bought bank stocks on the hope that RBI might not raise interest rates in its month-end policy review. The expectations were fuelled by, among other factors, a decision by SBI to cut bulk deposit rates, dealers said. Among the frontline gainers from the sector were HDFC Bank, up nearly 6% at Rs 1,047 and ICICI Bank, higher by 3.6% at Rs 720.