Date:05/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/02/05/stories/2005020502930100.htm

Back Mid-cap stocks sizzle on FII interest

Our Bureau

Mumbai , Feb. 4

MID-CAP stocks sizzled at the bourses on Friday with NSE's Mid-cap Index touching its all-time high. The 200-stock mid-cap index gained 29.25 points intra-day to touch a record level of 2724.95. The index shed a little towards the end of the day and closed comfortably at 2699.45, its highest-ever closing level.

Mid-caps have been on a good run at the bourses, as there is a lot of foreign institutional investor interest in them, brokers said. Several FIIs have been finding blue chips and large cap companies to be unattractive at current valuations. The rest of the markets ended the week on a slightly negative note with the benchmark indices closing marginally below their previous levels. Trading was volatile on Friday, after the markets opened in the positive.

Overall, the Sensex closed on Friday at 6618.23, a marginal loss of 1.74 points from Thursday's close. The Nifty shed 1.5 points to close the week at 2077.95.