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Markets soar on hopes of Pak withdrawal from LoC; Sensex zooms 112 points to 4306.40

Share prices shot up sharply on heavy buying support by foreign institutional investors and bull operators, pushing up the BSE Sensex above the 4,300-mark. News of Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief's assurance to US President Bill Clinton that he will withdraw forces from the Line of Control in Kashmir, boosted the market sentment at the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

The market opened on a positive note, continued its rally throughout the day on all round buying support as the market players greeted the Pakistan PM's assurance with joy. Hopes of an early end to the two-month-old Kargil conflict received a boost. The Sensex gained 112 points to close at 4306.40 points today.

Mirroring the uptrend, the BSE Sensex opened sharply higher at 4261.02 from 4194.55 of the previous day, exhibited a steady upward march, crossed the 4,300-mark and closed at 4306.40, gaining 111.85 points or 2.67 per cent in a single day.

The BSE-100 index moved up by 22.82 points to 1823.33 points from 1800.51 points. The BSE-200 rose by 12.26 points to 423.37 points from 411.11 points while the Dollex appreciated by 5.28 points to 162.86 from 157.58 points. Colgate, Indo-Gulf, Tata Steel (Tisco), Pentafour, SBI and Tata Engineering (Telco) led the gainers list.

In the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, the Indian rupee staged a smart recovery, appreciating by about 16 paise against the US dollar on heavy dollar unloading by banks and corporates, spurred by the encouraging development at the border.

UNI

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