Thursday, May 19 2005 17:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Despite profit-taking paring a major part of the gains, the Sensex today (May 19, 2005) staged a moderate pullback rally on fresh bargain purchases pushing up the index by 31.94 points to close at 6478.94 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after sentiments took a turn for the better.

Firm global advices, sliding world oil prices and the overnight assurance by SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) that it would not ban FIIs from using the Participatory Notes route boosted the general outlook, dealers said.

The market breadth turned distinctly positive, as advances out numbered laggards in the ratio of nearly three to one in the specified list, they added.

Index-based shares like Infosys Tech, Satyam Computer, Wipro, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, GACL, Grasim, HDFC Bank, ITC and Larsen notched sharp to moderate gains, contributing to the Sensex upsurge.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index ended up by 132.57 points and 26.50 points respectively last night.

Among South East Asian markets, the Nikkei was up by 241.75 points, the Hang Seng by 71.92 points, Singapore ST Index by 19 points and Kopsi by 21.73 points at close today.

Oil futures dipped below the USD 47 a barrel in Asian trading due to higher US inventories.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened firm at 6461.07 as against yesterday's close of 6447.00 and later rallied sharply to a high of 6538.19 before concluding at 6478.94, a net rise of 0.46 per cent.