Wednesday, November 16 2005 17:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Bolstered by sliding crude price and strong economic fundamentals, the Sensex today (Nov 16, 2005) shot up by a hefty 102 points to end at 8595.92 on heavy purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) amid indications on putting disinvestments programme once again on the track.

The announcement by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram that some profit-making non-Navratna PSUs had been identified for disinvestment of minority stakes coupled with the government's optimism on achieving the projected 7-7.5 per cent growth for the current fiscal had a positive impact on the market.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) opened firm at 8511.10 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 8606.95 before ending the day at 8595.92 as against Monday's close of 8494.29, a net rise of 101.63 points or 1.20 per cent.

The market was considered extremely bullish for the long term with a few leading foreign funds registered recently expected to pump in sizeable chunk of funds into equity in the next two to three months.

Some FIIs were believed to have prepared investment plans for the current fiscal based on growing Indian economy with a fairly good growth potential even for next year, brokers said.

The top heavyweight Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) hogged the limelight following reports that the company would gain a tax reprieve of about Rs 700 crore if the Government waived tax dues from RIL on account of irrecoverable taxes.

Banking and IT stocks also remained in the forefront and scored impressive gains on hectic purchases by foreign funds.