Friday, March 24 2006 11:49 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Discounting the Sonia factor, the stock market today (Mar 24, 2006) turned strong lifting the Benchmark sensex past 10,900 level during morning trading on fresh buying support from institutional investors as well as traders at the weekend session.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (sensex) opened better at 10,851.80 against yesterday's close of 10,840.59 and later rallied smartly to a high of 10,905.59 before being quoted at 10,893.86 at 10.30 am, up by 53.27 points over previous close.

The market had witnessed heavy sell-off during pre-close session yesterday in reaction to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors reported net investments of Rs 300 crore in equity on Wednesday while making substantial sales in the futures.

Reports about Finance Minister P Chidambaram assuring bankers that RBI would take steps to tackle the liquidity crunch in the financial system, by the end of this month had a sentimental impact on the market.