Thursday, March 10 2005 18:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Led by banking shares, prices today (March 10, 2005) rallied on BSE stock exchange, pushing up the Sensex by 15 points to end at 6907.65 on renewed buying activity even as investors booked profit at every rise, as the post budget dream-run picked up steam after an overnight pause.

Mirroring the sharp rise in banking shares, the Bankex shot up by 55 points to end at 4167.86.

SBI led the pack with a steep rise of 21.65 rise at 742.50 followed by UTI Bank by 7.40 to 257.10, J&K Bank by 9.30 to 381.80, Allahabad Bank by 8.45 to 97.65, Union Bank by 5.35 to 130.95 and Oriental Bank by 4.90 to 365.20.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share sensitive index opened weak at 6888.73 as against yesterday's close of 6892.82 and declined further due to increased selling and touched an intra-day low of 6849.98.

Later, on revival of buying, it shot up to a high of 6917.60, before ending at 6907.65, showing a good recovery of 14.83 points or 0.22 per cent over the last close.

Mirroring the sharp rise in banking shares, the Bankex shot up by 55 points to end at 4167.86.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), the main driving force behind the rally since the Budget day, continued to buy heavily, brokers said and added, "FIIs have already put in a whopping Rs 3119 crores in the month of March and Rs 12,188 cores in the current year."

Among other gainers, RIL rose by 6.55 to 593.95, Grasim by 12.25 to 1396.75, ONGC by 18.70 to 930.85, HDFC by 18.45 to 819.70, ITC by 7.90 to 1379.80, Dr Reddy by 6.85 to 758.20, HPCL by 4.30 to 339.40, ACC by 2.05 to 369.10, BHEL by 3.30 to 833.40 and Bajaj Auto by 3.75 to 1100.15.