Dalal Street on Tuesday hit another record peak ahead of the crucial third quarter earnings season. Sensex reached a new milestone of 21,000 thousand, but the rally was shortlived as profit booking emerged at higher levels pulling down the index to close under 21thousand level.

After touching an all time intra-day high of 21,077.53 points in the early trades, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark erased most of its early gains to close at 20,873.33 points, registering a minor gain of 60.68 points or 0.29 per cent. The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) gained 8.75 points or 0.14 per cent to close at 6,287.85 points.

The Sensex took 49 sessions to gain 1,000 points and breach the 21thousand mark. It crossed the 20,000 mark in intra-day trades on October 29, 2007, but it took 31 more trading sessions to actually close above 20 thousand on December 11, 2007.

Earlier in the day, mixed global cues helped the benchmark Sensex open with a gap of 157 points before witnessing severe selling pressure across the sectors. In the new-year, the Sensex touched a new high for the fourth time in six sessions.

The small and mid cap stocks were hit on a day when BSE Mid cap lost 2.82 per cent and the Small cap index 3.28 per cent.