Date:04/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/02/04/stories/2005020403680100.htm

Back Sensex up 90 points; crosses 6,600-mark

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Feb. 3

THE bulls are back to reigning the bourses with the markets looking stronger over the last few trading sessions. The Sensex gained 89.91 points on Thursday's trade and comfortably scaled the 6,600-level to close at 6,619.97.

The Nifty also opened smartly and stayed in the green all day. The 50-stock index touched an intra day high of 2083.75, before closing for the day at 2079.45, a 27.2-point gain.

Indicative of the continued bull grip in the market is the fact that the Sensex has appreciated nearly 2.5 per cent from the beginning of the week. The Nifty has appreciated by 3.53 per cent since Monday, January 31.

Market sentiment continues to be positive because of several policy decisions announced this week. These include allowing pension funds to invest five per cent in equity markets and the hike in FDI in telecom sector. The news about Standard & Poor's upgrading India's foreign currency rating to BB+ has also left a positive impact on market sentiment, according to market participants.

Foreign Institutional Investors have been big buyers in the equities market all week. They have made net investment of Rs 3,090 crore in the first three days of this week.

Thursday's trade was distinguished by all round buying. Sectors such as metals, FMCG, oils, automobiles and public sector banks had a good day at the bourses.

HDFC Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance Energy and ACC were the biggest gainers among the Sensex stocks.

The big gains on both the indices today were on the back of sound volumes. BSE registered a turnover of 33.3 crore shares valued at Rs 2,453 crore. At NSE, 52.12 crore shares worth Rs 5,327.88 crore exchanged hands.