LUCKNOW, JAN 28: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex is expected to touch the 6,500 mark by Diwali this year, Unit Trust of India (UTI) chairman P S Subramanyam said here today. "The mood in the market is upbeat and we expect the BSE Sensex to touch 6,500 mark by Diwali this year in the wake of recent cut in interest rates along with sound macro economic fundamentals," Subramanyam told reporters here.The stock markets have been rising continuously since the middle of 1998 and on the first trading day of 2000 (Jan 3) the BSE Sensex increased by record 369 points and on January 10, touched its record high level of 5,668.In addition to it, there has also been rise in cash groups share prices which have increased sharply in the recent past with the major attraction being in the software, media and private banks stocks.He said the recent relaxation for American depository receipts (ADR) and global depository receipts (GDR) would also help in further improvement in the market sentiment."With theserelaxations (for ADR/GDR), more and more companies will realise better valuation in the global markets which will be reflected in their share prices in the domestic markets," he added.Elaborating on UTI plans, Subramanyan said the fund was planning to launch a corporate restructuring fund to benefit from the value unlocked by companies undergoing restructuring of their operations through mergers and acquistions and divestment of their non-core activities.In addition to it, he said UTI was also launching an index fund, "Nifty Index Fund" which will invest only in companies included in the S&P CNX Nifty index."The investment in the companies of Nifty index would be in the same proportion as the index has," he added. Apart from it, the country's largest mutual fund was setting up call centres for selling its various schemes and marketing of its schemes through internet.
