Sensex, Nifty touches new heights in early trade

The bourses continued their upward march and key indices - the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) benchmark 30-share index (Sensex) and the National Stock Exchange's (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty - today soared to all-time peaks immediately after the market resumed trading on Friday.

Continuing with its upward trend, Sensex stayed on course in its journey towards 11,000 mark with an addition of 77.02 points to its 14 March reading to hit a new intra-day high of 10,951.38 points in early trade. Nifty was quoted at 3,248.40 points in early trade over previous close of 10,878.74 points and 3,226.60 points.

Driven by consistent liquidity backed purchase in equities, the market headed towards the crucial 11,000 level as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic mutual funds continued to make heavy purchases in equity. FIIs and mutual funds had been consistent buyers since the last couple of week.

FIIs reported net investments of over Rs 1,719 crore and mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,277 crore in equity during last week. As the Sensex pared most of its gains, the major gainers were ONGC, Tata Consultancy, Larsen and Toubro, Tata Motors, Wipro, Infosys Technologies, Dr Reddy's Lab, Cipla, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India and Satyam Computers.

According to market analysts, the dollar-rupee equation, has always influenced the buying and selling of equities in Indian bourses. The funds coming in from Japan and S Korea have flushed the market with dollars from investors from these countries. The gain in Sensex was subdued on 14 March even though it touched 10,896.39 points, the highest ever, on that day.