Mumbai: Enthused by reasonable guidance and liberal bonus issue by IT bellwether Infosys Technologies, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) went on an all-round buying spree and lifted the market by a whopping 121 points at close at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Apr 13, 2004).

In response to the strong price rally, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index that initially remained hesitant for a short period, surged up to a strong finish at 5904.52 as against yesterday's close of 5783.79, netting a sharp rise of 120.73 points or 2.09 per cent.

The volume that had been guided by a select heavyweighted stocks in the last few sessions, showed substantial rise at the close of the session.

Infosys' announcement this morning of a bonus issue in the ratio of three for one and the reasonable guidance for the financial year 2004-05 despite sharp appreciation in rupee set the tone for the market.

The board of directors of the company also recommended a final dividend of Rs 15 per share and a one-time special dividend of Rs 100 per share.

The sentiment was bolstered by high expectations of bonus announcements by other IT companies.

Wipro has already convened the board meeting on April 15 and 16 to recommend dividend and bonus. Wipro flared up by 10.54 per cent on heavy buying support.

FIIs which have made hefty net purchases of Rs 955 crore during last week, were believed to be heavy buyers in key old economy stocks like Grasim Ind, L&T, Tata Motors, SBI, RIL and a few others.