Receding war fears boost markets

Bulls have finally heaved a sigh of relief. Receding war fears lifted markets across the country on Monday and brought cheers to investors. Equities rose smartly lifting the benchmark Sensex by 59 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as tension in the Gulf eased temporarily following UN inspectors’ denial of finding any concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. On the other hand, the rupee rallied sharply against the US dollar to close 10 paise stronger at 47.76/77 at the forex market.

Encouraged by receding war fears, FIIs and investors made all-round purchases in select key stocks like Satyam Computers, Infosys Technologies, Tisco, Telco, Zee Telefilms, ACC and some others. Speculators and retail investors made large commitments in a number of shares on strong expectations about a favourable Budget in the light of reports that Finance Minister Jaswant Singh is likely to abolish dividend tax and surcharge on corporate tax in the Budget.

Sensex opened remarkably higher at 3,248.90 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high at 3,287.01 before ending at 3,282.45 as against last Friday’s close of 3223.41.