Thursday, May 5 2005 17:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Buoyed by sharp gains in banking shares, the Sensex today (May 5, 2005) rallied by 70.20 points to close at 6359.65 on sustained buying and extended the rally for the fourth consecutive day on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Banking shares remained in the limelight with registering steep gains on heavy buying after Government approved two bills that would give the Reserve Bank of India powers to revise SLR and CRR limits of commercial banks, brokers said.

Reserve Bank of India today raised the ceiling on bank dividend payout ratio to 40 percent from earlier 33.33 per cent which also boosted the sentiment, they added.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Sensitive Index opened firm at 6322.02 against yesterday's close of 6289.55 and shot up to an intra-day high of 6391.32, before closing at 6359.65, showing a smart gain of 1.11 per cent.

The Bankex rallied by 95.22 points or 2.65 per cent to close at 3684.29 as against the previous close of 3589.17.

Elsewhere, prices of several index-based pivotals also made good headway on frantic buying prompted by firm global advices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index rallied by 127.69 and 29.17 points respectively, while Hang Seng shot up by 116.65. KOSPI and Taiwan rose by 15.53 and 123.82 points.

ONGC attracted heavy institutional buying following the news that the company has struck three oil and gas reserves on east and west coasts of India and its shares shot up by Rs 22.60 to close at Rs 859.15.