Sensex opens exuberantly at 14,217.36 points

Mumbai, May 17: The Sensex opened on an exuberant note today at a high of 14,217.36 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and zoomed up to 14,336.97 gaining a whopping 202.45 points in early trade, on extremely positive cues from northward-bound global and Asian markets.

The broader 50-stock Nifty Index opened with a very nominal gain of 1.15 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at 4,172.10, but soon surged by an impressive 46.05 points and touched 4,217.00 points during early trade.

Major gainers in the opening trade were Rel Comm, Reliance, ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC, Hindalco, Satyam, Wipro, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, BHEL, HLL, BPCL.

Market analysts pointed out that a key event to watch today is the Union cabinet meeting which is scheduled later in the day to take up a proposal to allow public sector enterprises to invest their surplus funds in mutual funds. With state owned companies sitting on huge cash surpluses, even a small percentage of this money entering equities indirectly through mutual funds will pep up markets, they said.

Besides, there are some important March 2007 quarter results which are scheduled today and the market will take its cue from them. Bajaj Auto and Tata Steel report their Q4 results today. The board of Bajaj Auto will also consider a proposal to split the company into two. Tata Motors and Dr Reddy's Laboratories unveil their Q4 results tomorrow.

UNI