Apple's stock reached US$700 for the first time Tuesday, setting a record for the company the day after it said that orders for its iPhone 5 topped 2 million in the first 24 hours.

The stock traded as high as US$701.44 in the morning, up a quarter of a percent from Monday's close. It later fell slightly. It had come within 20 cents of US$700 on Monday.

The rally in Apple's stock price puts the company's market value at US$656 billion.

The US$700 mark is somewhat of an arbitrary milestone for Apple's stock, representing little more than a nice round number and a record high trading level.

The company, after all, already enjoys the distinction as the world's most valuable public company ever. Google Inc, its Silicon Valley neighbor, saw its stock price surpass US$700 in 2007. Yesterday, Google's stock was trading at US$715.24. But the online search leader's market capitalization is below Apple's at US$234.1 billion.

Apple started taking orders for the iPhone 5 last Friday. Orders during the first 24 hours more than doubled what Apple had for its predecessor, the iPhone 4S, over the same period last October.

"This was despite somewhat lukewarm reviews and some claiming it had 'lack of a wow factor,'" Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said in a note to investors. "We continue to believe many underestimate iPhone 5 in that it is a significant update and will drive a powerful product cycle."

Wu estimates that Apple will likely ship 27 million iPhones in the current quarter. That's up from his earlier estimate of 26 million.

Apple said on Monday that while most orders will be delivered on Friday, when the phone goes on sale in stores in the US and eight other markets, demand for the iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply.