Sensex crosses 17,000-mark

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today surged past the 17,000-points level for the first time in 16 months in early morning trade.The Sensex shot up by 175.88 points, or 1.1% to 17,028.79 points at 1100 hrs, a level last seen on May 23, 2008. The barometer ended 159.91 points higher yesterday. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also gathered 43.90 points at 5,050.75. Brokers said continued buying by foreign funds on the domestic bourses on expectations of strong quarterly earnings mainly bolstered the trading sentiments, helping Sensex to go past the 17,000-mark. The rally was backed by a steep rise in stocks of banking, oil and gas, IT and metal segments.