Mumbai: Buoyed by announcement of P Chidambaram as Finance Minister, the Sensex opened on a promising note and rallied past the psychological 5000-mark at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (May 24, 2004).

The BSE-30 share Sensitive Index resumed firm at 4993.45 compared with last Friday's close of 4961.57 and improved further to a high of 5043.29 before being quoted at 5018.97 at 10:00 hours (IST).

The S&P CNX Nifty was also quoted higher at 1577.25 as against last Friday's close of 1560.20.