Dalal St bullish on budget eve

Stock markets remained in the bull orbit on Wednesday as expectations remained high among investors ahead of the Union Budget on Thursday. Major stocks, led by metals and select auto and cement makers, rallied for the second straight day with investors8217; mood cautiously optimistic.

After getting close to the 5,000-mark in intra-day trades, the 30-share BSE Sensitive Index Sensex moved up by a decent 27.38 points to 4,955.97. The benchmark index had spurted 85 points on Tuesday after the Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav left freight rates unchanged in his maiden Railway Budget. The NSE S038;P CNX Nifty index gained 8.55 points to end at 1,566.80, off its day8217;s high of 1,578.50.

But the Sensex is still down about 15 per cent in 2004, making it Asia8217;s worst performer. Warnings in the Economic Survey did cause some concern, according to brokers, but fund managers and brokers expect a neutral budget after the Railway Budget presented on Tuesday turned out to be quite harmless.