Thursday, August 11 2005 11:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Discounting concerns over rising crude prices, the sensex today (August 11, 2005) opened remarkably up and later headed towards 7800-level during morning trading on the Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) on fresh buying support from operators on the back of sustained Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) inflows.

The sentiment was bolstered by reports that a number of companies have surpassed the net profit for the whole of last year in just three months of the current fiscal.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened firm at 7749.01 as against yesterday's (August 10, 2005) close of 7729.82 and later spurted to a high of 7794.74 before being quoted at 7779.79 at 10.30 a.m., up by 49.97 points.

Operators and retailers seemed to be picking up shares, prompted by increased FII activity. FIIs, mainly Asian and Europeans funds registered in the recent past, were pumping in funds heavily in equity.

Asian markets too were strong during morning trading. The Nikkei was quoted up by about 137 points and the Hang Seng by about 93 points during late morning deals.

However, a marked fall in shares prices on Wall Street yesterday (August 10, 2005) and high oil prices caused concern among investors.

Oil prices shot past $ 65 a barren in Asian Trading while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended down by 16.38 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 21.26 points.

Blue chip counters like Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Satyam Computers, State Bank of India (SBI), Wipro, Tata Steel, Tata Motor, Maruti Udyog, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), L&T, ICICI Bank, HLL, Hindalco, Grasim, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Cipla and Bajaj Auto were quoted remarkably higher on buying support.