With this, Sensex is now just 18 points away from its all-time high level of 4810.33 (but it reacted and closed lower) touched on July 15, 1999. ``Sensex is likely to scale a new all-time high level on Wednesday itself,'' said a broker.

Brokers said the sentiment was boosted in view of fresh speculative interest shown by local players. Operators, who were selective in their purchases, had switched over to the BSE from the NSE due to last day of the current account on the NSE. FIIs were net buyers in stocks like TISCO and TELCO besides NIIT and others. Domestic institutions picked up shares of some PSUs like MTNL and BHEL. Some bank scrips like HDFC Bank, CorporationBank and Oriental Bank also remained better on investment buying.

In the specified group, 21 scrips including cyclical shares hit the upper circuit breaker after exhausting the daily limit. Reflecting the bullish fervour, 102 out of 149 specified shares gained smartly while 45 registered losses and 2 remained unchanged. Showing the widespread rally, over 175 non-specified scrips were locked at the day's best level. Ranbaxy remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 154.80 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 2391.84 crore. ``The markets charted the same path as was expected during the close of Monday's trading. The markets opened strong and closed at higher levels with market players predicting the Sensex to scale a new all-time high during Wednesday's opening itself,'' said a fund manager.

However, the sudden spurt in buying during the half-an-hour before the closing bells on Tuesday was due to short covering by the NSE brokers.