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FIIs go on buying spree; Sensex spurts 90 points, 3225.30

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex today crossed the psychological barrier of 3200 as pivotals registered handsome gains on heavy buying spree from foreign institutional investors pushing the index up by about 90 points.

Encouraged by bullish trends in the world markets, the FIIs made huge purchases in heavy-weighted scrips like ITC, BHEL, Satyam Computer, M&M, L&T, Bajaj Auto and Pentafour Software. The domestic institutional investors sold considerably in the prime counters, leading BSE brokers said.

Reflecting the firm trend, the 30-scrip BSE Sensitive Index opened at 3163.23 points, surpassed the 3200 mark, touched the day's high of 3232.13, and closed slightly lower at 3225.30 points, showing a net gain of 89.88 points over the previous close of 3135.42 points.

The Sensex has gained about by 144 points in the past three straight sessions.

In Tokyo, the benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average gained 415.97 points, or 3.02 per cent, closing the day at 14,205.78 points. Stock prices also registered smart gains in New York and London.

There was also a rumour in the financial markets that India is likely to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and therfore the FIIs were bullish on Indian bourses.

The broad-based BSE-100 index advanced by 34.17 points to 1425.77 points against the previous close of 1391.60 points. The BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed higher by 7.62 and 3.02 points against the previous close of 322.10 and 126.06 points respectively.

Among the issues, ACC rose by Rs 15 to Rs 1161.25, Bajaj Auto gained by Rs 31.35 to Rs 685, BHEL Rs 20.50 to Rs 293.10, Cadbury Rs 11.25 to Rs 395, Colgate added Rs 2.25 to Rs 464, Glaxo Rs 34 to Rs 440, Grasim Rs 0.10 to Rs 164, Gujarat Ambuja Cement Rs 2.30 to Rs 202.60, Hero Honda Rs 46.75 to Rs 655, Hindustan Lever Rs 41.75 to Rs 1708.50, Hindalco Rs 16.25 to Rs 535.25, Indian Hotels Rs 18 to Rs 394, Infosys Tech Rs 19.75 to Rs 2459.50, ITC Hotels Rs 1.30 to Rs 128, ITC Rs 45 to Rs 706.50, L&T rose by Rs 31.40 to Rs 189.40, M&M Rs 11.50 to Rs 185, MTNL Rs 1.80 to Rs 218.80, Pentafour Software Rs 13.75 to Rs 681, Reliance Rs 1.60 to Rs 125.20, SBI Rs 9.30 to Rs 208.60, Telco Rs 1.80 to Rs 151, Tisco Rs 1.30 to Rs 14.40 and Zee Telefilms Rs 5.50 to Rs 694.

Total turnover on the BOLT network also rose sharply to Rs 15.16 billion against yesterday's turnover of Rs 12.17 billion.

The tobacco giant ITC topped the list by registering highest turnover of Rs 4.37 billion followed by Satyam Computers Rs 1.91 billion, SBI Rs 1.26 billion, Pentafour Software Rs 1.01 billion and Zee Telefilms Rs 802.8 million.

Hectic activity was witnessed at the other counters led by Reliance (Rs 698.5 million), BHEL (Rs 437.7 million), Castrol India (Rs 359.3 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 286.1 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 275.2 million), Tata Tea (Rs 257.3 million), Bajaj Auto (Rs 249.4 million), MTNL (Rs 203.9 million), L&T (Rs 195.5 million) and Telco (Rs 156.9 million).

UNI