Monday, August 1 2005 17:58 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (August 1, 2005) advanced further by 34 points to end at a new peak of 7669.45 in an otherwise lacklustre trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on fresh purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) amid thin attendance caused by intermittent rains in the city.

Extending the winning streak to sixth straight session, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index closed the day with a net gain of 34.03 points or 0.45 per cent at 7669.45 as against Friday's close of 7635.42 after moving irregularly in a range of 7681.11 and 7596.74.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were believed to be sustained buyers in several blue chip counters.

Terming the present dream-run as a liquidity-driven rally on the back of strong FII inflows, brokers said FIIs, mainly Japanese funds, have pumped in over Rs 1900 crore during last week, taking the total investment figure to over Rs 7900 crore in equity in July.

The incessant heavy rains in Mumbai for the second day in a row followed by a forecast of heavy to very heavy rains in the next 24 hours kept traders and market participants away from the trading, brokers added.

Operators too were seen making fresh commitments in select key counters while booking profits in some others.

Blue chips like HLL, RIL, Tata Motor, REL, Maruti Udyog, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, Ranbaxy, Hero Honda, ACC and Bharti Tele-Venture recorded remarkable gains.

However, Tata Steel, ITC, Grasim, BHEL, Satyam Computers, Wipro, Wipro, SBI, L&T, Dr Reddy's Lab, HDFC Bank and Infosys Tech showed marked losses.