Mumbai, July 27: Markets shrugged off the Mumbai deluge to race past another milestone and give the city stilled by a downpour drubbing something to cheer about.

The sensex leapt to a new historic close at 7605.03 in a gain of 52.26 points, or 0.69 per cent, over Tuesday’s finish of 7552.77, though volumes almost dwindled to a trickle. BSE deals fell to Rs 2284.08 crore from Rs 3538.79 crore.

The rally was fuelled by Reliance Industries (RIL), which reported a better-than-expected 61 per cent rise in net profit for the first quarter. Most observers had forecast a 30 per cent increase. Delighted investors drove up the stock past the Rs 700-mark but cooled off to Rs 698.40. This represented a gain of Rs 7.35 over its last close.

Analysts said the company was riding the upswing in petrochemicals, a commodity that gives RIL a large chunk of its revenues. Rumours of shareholders being rewarded with shares of Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Capital and Reliance Energy also hastened the pace of the rise.

Not too many FIIs and local funds ? most of them coping with a rain-choked city ? were around on trading floor. BSE pay-in and pay-outs were deferred till Thursday.

The Reserve Bank, too, buckled under the weather whiplash, declaring a bank holiday throughout Maharashtra. This halted trading in forex and money markets.

Despite the rain woes, the mood in the markets continues to be upbeat, much of it caused by heady FII flows. Data from Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed their net investments this calendar year at $6.2 billion. This works out to around Rs 27,118.20 crore.

Bank shares were in the spotlight, lifted by the Reserve Bank’s decision to keep interest rates steady in its first quarter review of the annual policy statement on Tuesday.

State Bank of India (SBI) rose Rs 26.75 to Rs 775.95, ICICI Bank Rs 14.75 to Rs 522.85 and HDFC Bank Rs 27.70 to Rs 703.05.

However, shares of Tisco fell by Rs 14.20 to Rs 375.40 after the firm disappointed investors with a 24 per cent increase in net profit for the first quarter.

Reliance’s was the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 227.20 crore, followed by ICICI Bank (Rs 184.66 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 151.07 crore) and VSNL (Rs 142.99 crore).