Shares in Apple Inc. (AAPL) continued their record streak with a new closing high on Monday. The stock ended the day at US$ 463.97, a gain of $4.29 (+0.93 percent), on light volume of 8.8 million shares trading hands, giving the company a market capitalization of $432.6 billion, meaning that Apple is still the world’s most valuable company.

AAPL Chart for February 6th
Source: Yahoo! Finance 

AAPL has gained almost $59 per share since the end of 2011, when the stock closed at $405, for a percentage gain of 14.6 percent in just over one month. Looking back to August 25th of 2011, the day after Apple cofounder Steve Jobs resigned as CEO and former COO Tim Cook took over the official reigns of the company, AAPL has gained $90.25 per share, or 24.1 points.

The company has been buoyed by a blowout December quarter and persistent rumors that the firm will be updating its popular iPad soon. There have also been a variety of stories about Apple entering the TV market with some sort of Apple-branded television set.

While AAPL moved higher on Monday, each of the major indices edged slightly lower. The DOW ended the day at 12845.13, down 17.10 (-0.13 percent); the NASDAQ ended the day at 2901.99, down 3.67 (-0.13 percent); and the S&P 500 closed at 1344.33, down 0.57 (-0.04 percent).

For those interested in the market cap battle with current #2, Exxon Mobil (XOM) ended the day at $85.75, up $0.83 (+0.98 percent), on light volume of 14.8 million shares trading hands. The energy giant is now worth $411 billion.

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.