Wednesday, March 1 2006 11:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Taking the Budget in its stride, the stock market today(Mar1,2006) continued its upward march after opening steady and even touched a new peak of 10,426.50 during morning trading on the back of sustained FII inflows and selective buying support from operators.

The budget which proposed no changes in corporate and personal taxes while raising service tax to 12 per cent and widening it to include 15 more items, was welcomed by the industry and the capital market.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index opened steady at 10,368.75 against yesterday's close of 10.370.24 and later rallied smartly to an all-time intra-trade high of 10,426.50 before being quoted at 10,425.35 at 10.30 am, up by 55.11 points over previous close.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained continued buyers in key counters and reported net investments of Rs 384 crore on February 27. Domestic mutual funds too have made net purchases of about Rs 60 crore on the same day.

Operators were believed to be creating fresh positions in select blue chip counters.

Meanwhile, Indian economy grew by 7.6 per cent in the third quarter of this fiscal after growing by over 8 per cent for two successive quarters.

Shares of Reliance Natural Resources Ltd listed on the BSE today, were quoted at Rs 19.80 per share at 10.30 am. The share moved in a range between Rs 26.00 and Rs 17.50 and clocked a turnover of Rs 86 lakh in the initial thirty minutes of trading.