The combined market value of all the firms listed on BSE rose to Rs 40,52,121.32 crore (slightly over $1,000 billion), based on an exchange rate of Rs 40.51 for $1, according to information available with the bourse.

This represents a sharp gain of about 60 per cent in the combined market cap of all BSE listed firms from $625 billion a year ago. However, the gain is relatively lower in rupee terms -- the market cap has gained just 42 per cent in the same period from about Rs 28,40,000 crore a year ago.

In 2007 so far, the market cap has gained 23 per cent in dollar terms from $812 billion at the end of last year. In rupee terms, it has gained 12 per cent from Rs 36,24,000 crore at 2006-end.

The country's 30 top blue-chip firms, which make the benchmark index Sensex, contribute about 47 per cent of the total market cap.

The collective investor wealth in the 30 Sensex firms rose to Rs 18,82,611.83 crore (about $465 billion). It represents a sharp gain of nearly 59 per cent from $293 billion a year ago and a jump of nearly 17 per cent from $398 billion at 2006-end. 

Among the top blue-chip firms, the country's most valued firm Reliance Industries has added a whopping $30 billion to the investors' wealth, taking its market value to $59 billion, from about $20 billion a year ago.

ONGC, the second-largest firm in terms of market cap, has added $11 billion, while another PSU giant in the top-five league, NTPC has added $12.5 billion to the investors' kitty.

Among private sector giants, Bharti Airtel's market cap has increased by over $23 billion in one year to about $38.9 billion, while that of TCS has increased by about $10 billion to close to $30 billion.

The market cap of all the companies listed on National Stock Exchange also hit a record high of Rs 38,83,659 crore ($959 billion).

While there are about 1,250 companies listed on the NSE, the BSE boasts of a much larger number of over 4,800 listings.

BSE is the world's largest bourse in terms of listed companies, while NSE has emerged as the third-fastest growing exchange with a jump of 15 per cent in the one-year period ended April 30.

BSE's 30-share benchmark index on Monday settled 59.44 points higher at 14,397.89, after hitting an intra-day high of 14,527.47 -  about 200 points away from its life-time high of 14,723.88 hit on February 9.