Bajaj Auto, which has been travelling in the overbought region for the last four sessions saw a sudden surge in volume to Rs 28 crore on BSE in contrast to Rs 9 crore on Wedenesday. This bout of buying took the stock to a high of Rs.678, closing at Rs 674. In the process, Bajaj Auto crossed its May 1998-end high of Rs 661. It has launched itself into a new bull orbit! Today's close isexceeded only by the high of Rs 771 reached in May 1997.

These volumes and prices clearly indicate that a fresh bout of investment has taken place. Coming at the higher end of the price, there is more investment to it than speculation, or so would it seem. Bajaj Auto was not alone. Other select band of scrips that invited investment were BHEL with Rs 28 crore (Rs 9 crore in the previous day), HLL with Rs 57 crore (Rs 34 crore), MTNL with Rs 15 crore (Rs 4 crore), ITC with Rs 246 crore (Rs 140 crore). Glaxo attracted an investment of Rs 3.82 crore over the previous day's Rs 8.58 crore. If proof were needed that this is a bout of investment and not speculation, you could see it in IPCL, which saw a volume of Rs 2.07 crore compared with just Rs 34 lakh the previous day!

The investment and price rise has been selective. Other scrips made marginal gains, more due to the rub-off effect. But what the investor needs to note is that this bout of investment has changed the technical picture. All indicators forSensex now signal confirm that it is time to start investing for the medium and long-term. The Sensex, on the weekly chart has broken through an important resistance point at 3405. The index had fallen through this support line at 3359 on June 12, 1998, and had gone down to a low of 2951. Today it has crossed the resistance. This could be the confirmed beginning of another bull-run.