Saturday, June 11 2005 13:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex jumped to near three-month high of 6883 before ending the week up by 0.43 per cent in erratic trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) even as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) stepped up investments amid cautious approach by operators.

In the week to June 11, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index moved in a range of 6883.67 and 6737.09 before ending the week at 6781.99 as against last weekend's close of 6753.00, a net gain of 24.99 points.

FIIs, which had been net sellers in the earlier two weeks, reported net purchases of over Rs 750 crore in the first four trading sessions of the week.

Bank shares stole the limelight having scored impressive gains on strong expectations of speedy reforms in the sector following the green signal by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to banks for funding corporates for overseas acquisitions.

Firm trend in bank stocks could be gouged by a sharp rise in the index. The BSE Bankex jumped by 136.15 points to end the week at 3940.66 from last weekend's close of 3804.51.

Easing global oil prices coupled with the Government's promise to keep a watch on inflation to ensure price stability in the country in the light of uncertainty in crude prices, however, did not have desired impact on the market sentiment.

The market seemed to be awaiting the arrival of monsoon after which a rally is not ruled out.

Investors anticipate a price rally shortly that is likely to lift the Sensex past the crucial 7000-mark.

Consumer goods counters too attracted brisk activity. The BSE CD index too soared by 126.35 points to end the week at 2029.66 from 1903.31 last weekend.

The Mid-Cap and Small-Cap shares continued to be in keen demand. As a result, the BSE Mid-Cap Index flared by another 66.22 points to close the week at 3,364.78 from last weekend's close of 3,298.56 and the BSE Small-Cap Index spurted by 90.18 points to 4,472.38 from 4,382.20 at last weekend.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index rose by 15.91 points to end the week at 3,643.99 from previous weekend's close of 3,628.08.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted modestly up at 894.81 and 342.00 at the weekend compared to last weekend's close of 892.74 and 340.43 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index improved by 9.73 points to finish the week at 2,853.53 from preceding weekend's close of 2,843.80 and the Dollex-30 ended the week modestly higher at 1,278.24 from 1,269.86 at the last weekend.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), both the S&P CNX Nifty eased fractionally by 1.75 points to close the week at 2,090.60 as against last weekend's close of 2,092.35 but the S&P CNX Defty edged up by 1.65 points to 1,663.75 from 1,662.10 previously. The CNX Nifty Junior moved up by 53.40 points to conclude the week at 4,485.55 from 4,432.15 at the last weekend.

During the week (six trading sessions), the volume of business on the BSE and the NSE remained high at Rs 10,833 crore and Rs 21,182 crore against last week's turnover of Rs 10,542 crore and Rs 22,116 crore respectively.