Mumbai: The Sensex opened firm and later rose past 5,200-level during morning trading in line with brisk activity on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Dec 2, 2003) on sustained buying prompted by favourable political developments.

However, the BSE barometer later met strong resistance as stocks fell back sharply immediately after the market breached 5,200-mark, due to profit booking at higher levels.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened strong at 5,187.73 as against yesterday's close of 5,160.85 and later surged up to a high at 5,204.57. Thereafter, it dropped sharply to a low at 5,143.28 in a volatile market before being quoted at 5,151.82 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

Attributing the four-session strong rally that lifted the Sensex by over 338 points to the peace initiatives between India and Pakistan, market sources said the flow of foreign investments are expected to continue despite the approaching year end.

After a brief slow down for a couple of weeks, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) once again have made a net investments of Rs 787 crore during last week.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average yesterday ended higher by 116.59 points and the Nasdaq Composite Index firmed up by 29.56 points.

Among the top gainers, Jindal Strips were quoted up by 5.24 per cent, NIC Piramal by 4.77 per cent, Mastek by 3.88 per cent, Dabur by 3.80 per cent, Info Ent by 3.71 per cent, MICO by 3.04 per cent, Siemens by 2.79 per cent and STC India by 2.58 per cent.

PTI