In absolute terms, surge of 6,500 points in 2007 is the highest ever in the over two decades of history of Sensex.  But when it comes to percentage gain, the highest was recorded in 2003, when the barometer index rose by 73 per cent.

The Sensex stood at 13,786.91 points at the end of 2006 and closed the year 2007 at 20,286.99 points on Monday. It crossed seven thousand-point milestones -- from 14,000 to 20,000 marks -- during the year, which is the maximum for a year.

The surge of 47.1 per cent in 2007 is higher than 46.7 per cent gain in 2006, when the Sensex had gained 4,388 points. Prior to that, the Sensex had risen 42.3 per cent in 2005 and 13.1 per cent in 2004.

In absolute terms, the Sensex had surged by about 2,800 points and 765 points in 2005 and 2004 respectively. In 2003, when the Sensex soared by 73 per cent, it had gained just 2,461 points in absolute terms.

Earlier in 2002, the Sensex had risen just 3.5 per cent, while it had seen losses of 18 per cent and 21 per cent in 2001 and 2000 respectively.

The market capitalisation of all listed companies rose by more than Rs 35,00,000 crore (Rs 35 trillion) to settle at Rs 71,69,983.31

crore (Rs 71.69 trillion) at the end of 2007. The 30 blue-chip companies in the Sensex saw their market value soaring to Rs 28,61,341 crore (Rs 28.61 trillion) at the end of the year.