Tuesday, June 14 2005 16:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Jun 14, 2005) ended 27 points up extending its gains to second straight day in volatile trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on selective purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) amid worries over the delay in arrival of the monsoon and high global oil prices.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened moderately up at 6847.62 and later fluctuated erratically in a small range of 6865.18 and 6819.31 before ending the day at 6860.18 against yesterday's close of 6832.68, a net gain of 27.50 points or 0.40 per cent.

The market was largely driven by sustained FII inflows while operators and traders adopted a cautious approach by booking profits in some key counters at higher price levels.

FIIs, which reported net investments of over Rs 261 crore on June 10, taking the total inflows to Rs 1,012 crore during last week, reportedly were selective buyers during the day.

Bank shares once again stole the limelight on fresh purchases from institutional investors.

SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and BoB scored impressive gains. As a result, the BSE Bankex shot up by 53.82 points or 1.34 per cent to 4063.45 from yesterday's close of 4009.63.

Infosys Tech, Tata Steel, RIL, REL, ONGC, Dr Reddy's Lab and Bharti Tele-Venture also recorded handsome gains.

However, Tata Motors, TCS Ltd, NTPC, Maruti Udyog, HLL, L&T, Hero Honda and HDFC suffered a setback mitigating the Sensex gains.

The market has almost discounted the factors like delay in monsoon arrival and high global crude prices that remained above $55 a barrel level.