Friday, September 16 2005 17:34 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The upbeat mood gathered momentum and the Sensex rallied smartly by 97 points to scale yet another new peaks at 8388.80 on sustained inflows from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) as also private mutual funds amid easing global oil prices.

The sentiment was enlivened by the SEBI's decision to allow mutual fund participation in the derivatives trading.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index opened firm at 8296.88 and gradually moved upwards to hit an all-time intra-trade record high of 8388.80 before ending the day at a new closing peak of 8380.96 against yesterday's (Sept 15, 2005) close of 8283.76, a net gain of 97.20 points or 1.17 per cent.

Crediting the rally that lifted the Sensex to near the anticipated 8400 level to ample liquidity, brokers said FIIs and mutual funds remained heavy buyers even at the prevailing higher levels in response to strong fundamentals and other positive developments.

Besides the SEBI's positive step for the market, Finance Minister P Chidambaram's optimism on early resolution to problems stalling stake sales in state-run firms prompted a fresh buying spree.

FIIs reported inflows of Rs 744.40 crore in first three trading sessions of the week while private mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 718.66 crore in the same period.

The Sensex is expected to continue its upsurge on the back of consistent inflows from institutional investors even as a strong correction at 8400 level is considered to be healthy for the market, brokers added.

Heavy weighted stocks like HDFC, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Larsen and Turbo (L&T), Tata Steel, Bharti Tele-Venture, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Tata Motors recorded sharp gains on fresh buying support.

However, State Bank of India (SBI), ITC, Satyam Computers, Grasim and HDFC Bank suffered a modest setback due to profit booking.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index spurted sharply by another 45.73 points to 4475.56 from previous close of 4429.83.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply up at 1081.10 and 410.29 at close compared to previous close of 1071.14 and 405.86 respectively. The BSE-500 Index shot up by 30.94 points to 3493.21 from yesterday's close of 3462.27 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 1568.45 from 1547.79.

The volume of business was remarkably high at Rs 4116.39 crore compared to Rs 3841.01 crore yesterday. Amar Remedies clocked the highest turnover of Rs 181.79 crore followed by RIL (Rs 116.50 crore), India Infoline (Rs 90.74 crore), SBI (Rs 75.74 crore) and McDowell (Rs 75.63 crore).

HDFC jumped by 63.65 to 1064.45, ICICI Bank by 11.30 to 542.55, RIL by 3.60 to 764.45, ONGC by 21.70 to 1021.60, Tata Steel by 8.20 to 421.90, Bharti Tele-Ventur by 19.80 to 362.80 L&T by 40.15 to 1360.35, Bajaj Auto by 10.85 to 1646.80, Bharat Heavy Electrail Limited (BHEL) by 7.90 to 1097.95, Hindalco by 1.20 to 154.40, REL by 1.75 to 600.30, Tata Motors by 3.80 to 524.20, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) Ltd by 6.15 to 1456.50, NTPC by 2.50 to 104.80, Ranbaxy by 4.50 to 527.60, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) by 1.45 to 177.55 and Cipla by 2.85 to 363.70.

However, SBI eased by 1.20 to 900.70, Tata Power by 2.55 to 458.60, Satyam Computer by 1.85 to 542.10, ITC by 1.15 to 1878.50, HDFC Bank by 2.70 to 689.35, Grasim by 8.15 to 1390.40 Dr Reddy's Lab by 3.45 to 801.45, Hero Honda by 1.05 to 684.20 and ACC by 1.85 to 476.10.