Sensex climbs 20,000 peak after 2 years

Mumbai: Clarity on GAAR, a controversial tax rule that had threatened foreign investments in India for nearly a year, expectations of a people-friendly Budget and a cut in interest rates by the RBI, and an unabated flow of funds by foreign investors combined to take the sensex to the psychologically important 20,000 mark again on Tuesday, a two year high.      The last time the benchmark had seen this level was on January 7, 2011, about two months after it had reached its all-time peak of 21,109 points.      The day's rally came on the back of a strong quarterly result by software major TCS, and relatively steady Asian markets. The market opened with the sensex at 20,000, slipped a tad below that level due to profit-taking and again regrouped in late session as FMCG major ITC rallied ahead of its results, and closed just a tad off the 20,000 mark, at 19,987, up 80 points. The day's rally added about Rs 26,000 crore to investors' wealth with the BSE's market capitalization now at Rs 71 lakh crore.      Brokers and dealers expect Dalal Street investors to remain upbeat at least for a few more weeks. "Euphoria is building up, and I believe the Budget-related rally would continue," said leading broker Motilal Oswal.      Market players expect the RBI to cut the repo by at least 25 bps on January 29. This, along with strong flow of FII money, could take the sensex to a new high before the Budget on February 28, they said.