Mumbai: Buoyed by declining oil prices and the Standard & Poor's (S&P) upgradation of currency outlook on corporates and banks, investors made selective purchases aiding the Sensex to recover by 34 points at close in extremely narrow movements on the Stock Exchange in Mumbai today (Aug 24, 2004).

Investors responded positively to third consecutive fall in crude prices on New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude oil for October delivery fell to USD $ 45.80 a barrel as Iraq increased shipments to tankers for the first time in two weeks.

Standard & Poor's revision of outlook on foreign currency ratings of seven companies including RIL, IOC and Tata Power as well as two commercial banks to positive from stable also had sentimental impact on the market.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened on a promising note at 5048.63 and was later trapped in a narrow range of 5084.74 and 5040.71 before ending at 5067.39 as against yesterday's (Aug 23, 2004) close of 5033.69, a net gain of 33.70 points or 0.67 per cent.

Encouraged by hefty net investments of Rs 2202 crore by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on August 19 and 20, operators made fresh commitments in cash segment and covered short positions in derivatives ahead of the expiry of August Contract on Thursday (Aug 26, 2004).

Key counters like RIL, Satyam Computers, SBI, Wipro, Tata Motors, Tisco, REL, ONGC, ITC, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, Grasim, GACL, BHEL and Bajaj Auto scored handsome gains.

However, Dr Reddy's Lab, Bharti Tele-Ven, ICICI Bank and Zee Telefilms showed moderate falls.