Mumbai: After an overnight correction, late bout of strong buying by institutional investors aided the Sensex to end almost at 46-month closing high at 5641.92 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Dec 24, 2003).

The BSE barometer that closed past 5600-mark for the first time since March 1, 2000, had finished the session at 5642.12 on that day.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened marginally higher at 5566.05 and thereafter remained trapped in a narrow range of 35 to 40 points before a smart rally at the fag end lifted it to the day's high at 5648.24.

It ended at 5641.92 as against yesterday's close of 5564.33, netting a rise of 77.59 points or 1.39 per cent.

The trading was marked by hectic buying by investors in the last 30 minutes with Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic funds reportedly making heavy investments in blue chip counters at the last day of December Contract of Futures and Options.

FIIs remained the principal driving force behind the market with their net inflows during last week amounting to Rs 1,308 crore besides net purchases of Rs 284 crore on December 22.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index spurted by 39.65 points to 2940.26 from previous close of 2900.61.

Steel sector attracted keen interest from investors and Tisco and Jindal Steel scored impressive gains.

Key counters like Bharati Televentures, HDFC, Hero Honda, HPCL, BHEL, RIL, MTNL, Wipro, Satyam Computers, L&T and HDFC also recorded sharp advances.