MUMBAI: Boosted by strong buying in metal stocks and heavyweights like HUL and Tata Power, the sensex provisionally closed 231 points up at 25,037, a new record high closing for the index.

Thursday's rally was also helped by foreign fund buying, institutional dealers said.

Earlier in the session, the sensex traded lower due to profit booking but late rally, mainly because of FII buying, took the Sensex to an intra-day high at 25,044. If the final closing is above 25,000, this will be the first closing for the index above the 25,000 mark.

Among the sensex shares, Sesa Sterlite closed 6.6% higher at Rs 315 while Hindalco closed 6% higher at Rs 170. Among the other top index gainers were HUL, up 4.9% at Rs 630 and Tata Power, up 4.4% at Rs 110.

Among the handful of laggards were M&M, down 1.4% at Rs 1,200 and HDFC Bank, down 1.4% at Rs 806.

In the gold market, the slow drift in gold prices continued with the price of the yellow metal in the city bullion hubs hovering below the Rs 26,700/10gram mark in evening session.