Tuesday, October 4 2005 11:29 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Despite indications of a slowdown in FII activity, the Bombay Stock Exchange Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) today (Oct 04, 2005) opened past 8700 level and spurted to a new peak of 8774.89 during early trade driven by excellent Q2 corporate performance and strong economic fundamentals.

The market seemed to have discounted the negative FII activity on September 30, when Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reported net sales of Rs 37 crore.

The Sensex opened higher at 8706.70 against yesterday's close of 8697.65 and later rallied smartly to a new intra-day peak of 8774.89 before being quoted at 8770.77 at 10.30 am, up by 73.12 points over last close.

Crediting the fresh rally in share prices to the strong 8.1 per cent GDP growth in the first quarter of this fiscal, brokers said investors expected the encouraging second quarter working results to boost the economic growth.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CIIs) also was optimistic that strong prospects of kharif production and encouraging performance by industrial and services sector may will help the economy register 7.3 per cent growth in 2005-06.

Meanwhile, operators and retail investors once again have shifted their attention the mid-cap and small-cap stocks and were seen making fairly heavy buying at the prevailing price levels, brokers added.