Friday, July 8 2005 17:09 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (July 8, 2005) bounced back with a vengeance and ended 67 points up, driven by heavy FII inflows and positive trend in American markets that helped restore investors' confidence after the multiple London blasts.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened on a strong note at 7171.52 and later rallied smartly to the intra-day high of 7240.39 before ending the day at 7212.08 against yesterday's close of 7145.13, a net gain of 66.95 points or 0.94 per cent.

Crediting the turnaround to renewed buying spree from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) coupled with a firm trend on Wall Street last night, brokers said the market is expected to remain bullish on the back of sustained inflows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday ended up by 31.61 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index improved by 7.01 points. However, South East Asian markets witnessed downward trend and ended with moderate losses.

Meanwhile, global oil prices rose past $61 in Asian trade this morning after falling briefly following the London bombings.

The inflation number edged up to 4.14 per cent during the week ended June 25.

FIIs, which were believed to be heavy sellers in the Futures and options during overnight session, reportedly made sizeable net purchases in a number of blue chip counters on the dips.

Heavy-weighted stocks like RIL, SBI, Tata Steel, Wipro, Satyam Computers, ITC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Tele-Venture, HDFC, Infosys Tech, L&T and a few others scored impressive gains.