Friday, May 6 2005 17:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex continued to rise for the fifth straight day today (May 6, 2005) and after crossing the 6400 mark, ended at 6388.48 on the stock exchange, Mumbai (BSE), showing a gain of 28.83 points over the previous close.

The Index has risen sharply by 234.04 points or 3.80 per cent since Monday (May 2, 2005).

In range-bound trading the market opened better, but declined sharply by midsession on fresh selling after reports that inflation rose to 5.91 per cent during the week ended April 23, higher than the RBI's forecast of 5-5.5 per cent.

However, prices picked up strength towards the fag end on emergence of heavy buying by local funds and closed firm.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Sensitive Index opened marginally higher at 6367.25 as against the previous close of 6359.65. Thereafter, it fell sharply to a low of 6333.83.

Later, on emergence of heavy buying, Index shot up to a high of 6404.36 and settled at 6388.48, showing a smart rise of 0.45 per cent over the previous close. Cement, auto, refinery and select IT shares stole the show and rallied on heavy buying activity.

BSE-Oilgas index rose sharply by 43.93 points or 1.45 per cent to 3083.26, while BSE-Auto index firmed up by 16.52 points to 2679.97 and BSE-IT by 27.09 points to 2477.52. Among auto shares, Maruti shot up by Rs 16.45 to Rs 433.15 on heavy buying after the company's excellent results. Maruti's net rose by 57 per cent to Rs 853.6 crores in 2004-05 as against Rs 542.1 crores in 2003-04. The company also declared final dividend of Rs 2 per share aggregating Rs 57.78 crores.