Mumbai, Jan. 3: Continuing the New Year celebrations that began yesterday, stock markets today closed above the 14000-mark for the first time.

The 30-shares BSE sensex closed the day at 72.68 point or 0.52 per cent higher at 14024.49. It struck a record high of 14035.67 in mid afternoon trade while the low for the day was at 13897.42.

The bellwether index had breached the 14000-level first on December 5 and hit a high of 14035.30 on the next day (December 6).

The wide-based 50-share National Stock Exchange nifty also closed at a new high of 4024.05, gaining 16.65 points over yesterday’s close of 4007.40. The surge was led by buying in auto, technology and pharma stocks.

“This year is likely to witness the best of the long-term uptrend that began in May 3 thereby completing a four-year cycle by May 7. The extended correction in December has been healthy, as the market is no more overbought,” an analyst said.

“This could help it rally beyond February during which the medium term target of 15500 could also be exceeded.”

According to dealers, foreign institutional investors continued to buy in line with firm Asian advices, while retail investors and operators also made good purchases in key indices.

Frontline technology stocks witnessed renewed buying interest ahead of the third-quarter quarter numbers, which kicks off with Infosys on January 11. The BSE IT index gained 1.5 per cent to 5450.51.

The market breadth was strong, as buying continued for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. Of the total 2,700 traded shares, 1,700 stocks ended with gains, while 942 closed with losses and 58 held steady. The trading volume recovered smartly to Rs 4,312.22 crore from yesterday's level of Rs 3,380.94 crore.