MUMBAI: The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) closed above the 8500-mark on Tuesday, buoyed by a steep rise in heavyweights, Reliance Industries (RIL), ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, TCS and Infosys Technologies. Interestingly, a fall in crude oil price helped Monday's rise in the market, while on Tuesday it refused to buckle under the global crude oil price surge.

A highly volatile trend was witnessed in the market. After resuming 32 points lower as compared to its previous close of 8444.84, the Sensex slipped below the 8400-mark and tumbled to an intra-day low of 8376.12 on sustained selling pressure. However, it recovered in the afternoon and touched a new intra-day high of 8515.50, up 139 points from the day's low. The Sensex finally settled at an all-time high of 8500.28, up 55.44 points. The Nifty gained 10.90 points to close at 2578.

The market breadth, however, was extremely negative with losers outpacing gainers as of the 2,667 stocks traded on the BSE, 2,020 stocks declined, 620 stocks advanced and 27 stocks remained unchanged.

The midcap and smallcap shares witnessed heavy selling. The BSE Midcap index lost 7.92 points and closed at 4344.34 and the BSE Smallcap lost 90.45 points at 6273.17.

Bank stocks witnessed strong gains, with the BSE Bankex gaining 103.38 points or 2.07 per cent at 5107.07. SBI were up one per cent at Rs. 917, ICICI Bank 3.89 per cent at Rs. 578 and HDFC Bank rose by 2.68 per cent to Rs. 729.