The Ambani brothers' settlement on Saturday triggered the strong opening of the Sensex at 6,940 -- up 34 points over its last close of 6,906.

The index crossed its all-time closing and intra-day highs in early trades, but failed to breach the 7,000 levels in the first half.

The market was extremly buoyant thanks to steep upsurge in Reliance' and technology stocks while banking, auto, cement and other select old economy counters failed to make any impression following sharp correction.

The Sensex edge past the 7,000 mark in the afternoon trades and touched its all-time trading high of 7,002. After moving in a range of 6,980 and 6,995 towards the closing hours, the Sensex finally ended at its new all-time closing high of 6,984 -- up 78 points.

The Nifty advanced 21 points to to close at 2,144.  Reliance Energy [Get Quote] vaulted 11.33% (Rs 67) to Rs 658. Reliance Industries [Get Quote] zoomed 4.92% (Rs 30) to Rs 630.

Infosys [Get Quote] soared 3.79% (Rs 87) to Rs 2,375. While TCS [Get Quote] shot up 2.34% (Rs 30) to Rs 1,297, Satyam [Get Quote] jumped 3.49% (Rs 17) to Rs 503. Wipro [Get Quote] also ended firm at Rs 755 -- up Rs 11.

Hindalco [Get Quote] shot up 4.33% (Rs 49) to Rs 1,186, while Tisco [Get Quote] gained 2.29% (Rs 8) to Rs 348. ONGC [Get Quote] (up Rs 4 to Rs 922) ended in the green, after a weak early trades.

Ranbaxy [Get Quote] surged 2.30% (Rs 24) to Rs 1,071, while other pharma majors were divergent.  ICICI Bank [Get Quote] dropped 2.67% (Rs 11) to Rs 405, while SBI [Get Quote] tumbled 1.62% (Rs 11) to Rs 657. HDFC Bank [Get Quote], however, was up half a per cent (Rs 3) at Rs 597.

ITC slipped a per cent (Rs 8) to Rs 1,538.  Gujarat Ambuja [Get Quote] tanked sharply to close at Rs 59. While Grasim [Get Quote] slipped a per cent to Rs 1,086, ACC closed down a tad at Rs 380.  Tata Motors [Get Quote] declined 1.51% (Rs 6) to Rs 414.

While Maruti [Get Quote] and Hero Honda, too, ended at lower levels, Bajaj bucked the downtrend and ended with steady gains at Rs 1,256 - up Rs 6.  Tata Power [Get Quote] shed 2% (Rs 7) to Rs 366. While HDFC lost 1.28% (Rs 11) to Rs 850, L&T dipped 1.19% (Rs 13) to Rs 1,101.