Sensex opens in the green to strike an all-time high

Mumbai, Sep 24: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today opened on a buoyant note at 16,697.89 from it's previous close of 16,564.23 and striked an early intra-day all-time high of 16,820.53, a gain of 256.30 points, on steady buying interest for index pivotals.

On the other hand, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty opened marginally weaker at 4,837.15 from it's last close of 4,837.55 and then surged by around 76 points to strike an all time high of 4,913.35.

The market breadth was strong on the BSE with 1,234 shares advancing as compared to 733 that declined, while 44 remained unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 1,109 crore so far. Among the 30-stock Sensex pack, 20 advanced while 10 declined, official data shows.

Reliance Energy (REL), ICICI Bank, Maruti Suzuki India, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries (RIL) and NTPC were the early leaders, while Infosys Technologies, ITC and Ambuja Cements were the other losers from Sensex pack.

Asian indices advanced today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, China's Shanghai Composite and Singapore's Straits Times advanced. Stock markets in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were closed for public holidays.

US stocks posted steady gains on Friday, capping a strong week for Wall Street, as investors drew confidence from strong results at Oracle Corp and a continued sense that lower interest rates should help bolster the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 53.49, or 0.39 per cent, to 13,820.19. Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard&Poor's 500 index advanced 7.00, or 0.46 per cent, to 1,525.75, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 16.93, or 0.64 per cent, to 2, 671.22.

Crude oil prices dipped today as oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico restored more output after a mild storm triggered evacuation and production cuts. US crude for November delivery fell 22 cents to USD 81.40 a barrel.

UNI