Stock market touched stratospheric heights in 2007 as investors remained bullish on the rapidly expanding Indian economy and corporate earnings, pushing the Sensex 47 per cent in its sixth successive year of gains and doubling the value of all companies listed on the bourses.

Record foreign inflows in the wake of a turmoil in some developed markets, coupled with the buoyant Indian economy and moderate inflation drove a sharp rally across the market, barring select auto and software scrips. Market capitalisation of all listed companies zoomed to almost Rs 71,70,000 crore from around Rs 35,00,000 crore at the beginning of this year.

The benchmark index, Sensex, gained 47.1 per cent or 6,500 points during the year to end at 20,286.99 points. The Sensex ended at 20,286.99, a gain of 80.04 points or 0.40 per cent over Friday's close. National Stock Exchange Nifty advanced by 58.90 points or 0.97 per cent to 6,138.60 points.

During the year, Information Technology sector, once the darling of investors, was the only one to see its index declining during the year as these companies battled the rise of rupee against the dollar.

Automobile index also remained flat as people deferred purchased of cars and bikes after interest rates hardened. On the contrary, metals, engineering and energy stocks were the biggest gainers with their indices more than doubling in 2007.

Real estate, banks and public sector scrips also saw a surge in the range of 60-80 per cent, while modest gains were witnessed in FMCG, pharma and health care companies.

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