Thursday, April 7 2005 11:32 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Apr 7, 2005) opened on a firm note and later surged up further on the back of a smart rally in bank stocks during morning trading on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on fresh buying support prompted by possibility of hike in Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) cap in Public Sector Unit (PSU) banks.

Sustained FII inflows and easing oil prices also had a sentimental impact on the market.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened strong at 6629.12 as against yesterday's (Apr 6, 2005) close of 6606.41 and later surged up to a high of 6644.69 before being quoted at 6626.36 at 10:30 hrs (IST), up by 19.95 points.

Operators and retail investors were seen taking up fresh positions in bank stocks on reports that the Government is studying a proposal to raise FII limit in public sector banks to 24 per cent from the current 20 per cent, brokers said.

Fresh buying support was partly attributed to a likely settlement between Ambani brothers by next month as well as a further fall in crude oil futures to $ 55.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, mid-morning in Asia.

Meanwhile, FIIs reported net investments of Rs 103.40 crore on Tuesday (Apr 5, 2005).

Bank stocks like SBI, Union Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank and others were quoted remarkably up on heavy buying support.

Key counters like Wipro, RIL, Tata Motor, Maruti Udyog, ITC and a few others showed marked gains.

However, ONGC, ICICI Bank and Bajaj Auto recorded moderate losses due to selling pressure.