Thursday, March 31 2005 12:14 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Mar 31, 2005) rallied sharply during morning trading and was quoted 73 points up at 10:30 hrs (IST) on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on selective buying support from domestic mutual funds and operators.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), however, reported a net outflow of $ 396 million on March 29.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened on a firm note at 6404.78 as against yesterday's (Mar 30, 2005) close of 6381.40 and later surged up to 6468.57 before being quoted at 6454.69 at 10:30 hrs (IST), higher by 73.29 points.

Attributing the highest withdrawal by FIIs in a single day on Tuesday (Mar 29, 2005) reportedly to ICICI Bank's ADS conversion offer, market players said domestic funds seemed to have stepped up purchases in select heavyweight counters at the last day of the current fiscal.

Operators too have turned positive and were seen making fresh commitments in the cash market while squaring up their positions in the Futures and Options (F&O) segment on last sessions of March contract.

The sentiment was aided by a smart rally on the Wall Street last night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday gained 135.23 points at 10540.93 and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 31.79 to 2005.67.

Blue chip counters like Wipro, Tata Steel, SBI, Satyam Computers, RIL, ONGC, ITC, Infosys Tech, ICICI Bank, HPCL, Hindalco, HDFC Bank, GACL, Cipla, BHEL, Bharti Tele-Venture, Bajaj Auto and REL were quoted remarkably up on fresh buying support.