Non-stop Sensex hits 9400

With foreign institutional investors getting aggressive in Indian markets once again, the bull bandwagon seems to be virtually unstoppable. ...

With foreign institutional investors getting aggressive in Indian markets once again, the bull bandwagon seems to be virtually unstoppable. The benchmark Sensex joined the rally in other emerging markets in Asia and hit the 9400 level in intra-day trading before closing with another huge gain of 110 points at 9394.27.

The bull rally is being led by FIIs who invested $587 million on Friday, one of the largest daily FII investments in a day. Significantly, net FII investments in Indian equity crossed the $10 billion mark to $10.112 billion in 2005 so far, the highest FII investment in a year.

However, there was an outflow of $1.19 billion by FIIs from the debt market in 2005 following the rise in interest rates in the US.

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The key for Monday’s spurt was the sharp decline in the crude oil prices. The Nymex light crude oil for January delivery declined by $1.93 to settle at $58.06 a barrel, while the London Brent crude declined sharply by $2.24 to close at $57.14 per barrel.

“The market rally was spread across Asia. India was not an exception. Instead of normal year-end selling, we are witnessing increased FII buying,” said a fund manager. In Asia, Indonesia rose by 1.65 per cent, Hong Kong by 1.02 per cent, South Korea by 1.39 per cent and Taiwan by 1.27 per cent. According to dealers, higher growth forecast and disinvestment plans also boosted sentiment. Sensex P-E ratio has gone up from 17.01 a month ago to 18.43 on Monday.

The Sensex hit a new all-time high of 9,402.68 points and a low of 9263.32 points. The BSE Mid-Cap Index gained 0.61%, while the BSE Small-Cap Index added 0.84%. The BSE Bankex up by 1.14%, while the BSE Metal index surged by 2.38% today.