Mumbai: After a hesitant start, the Sensex later rallied sharply in line with a strong upsurge in PSU stocks during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (April 21, 2004) on buying support prompted by reports that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will get a lead in the first phase of general elections.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index which opened slightly lower at 5803.70 as against yesterday's close of 5804.81, later rose sharply and was quoted at 5845.90 at 10:30 hours (IST).

PSU stocks were in the limelight and were quoted sharply higher as investors created fairly heavy positions in the sector following the exit polls projections of a healthy lead for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the first phase of elections held yesterday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reported a hefty net investment of Rs 693 crore on April 19. Brokers, however, attributed the high inflows to the FII subscription to the new issue offer by ICICI Bank.

Key PSU stocks like HPCL, ONGC, BHEL and Bharti Tele showed remarkable gains at early stages.

Other heavyweights like Tata Motors, Tisco, SBI, RIL, L&T, HDFC, GACL, Grasim, Cipla and ACC too were quoted higher on fresh buying support.