Sensex past 14K; 15K in view

Expectation of good third quarter results and possible re-rating by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended bull charge on its second day in 2007. The BSE benchmark Sensex gained 72 points to close first time above 14,000 milestone. According to fund managers, the Sensex may cross even 15,000 mark before budget.

The Sensex finally closed at 14,014 points on Wednesday after touching an intra-day high of 14035.67 and a low of 13897.42. NSE Nifty was up 16 points to close at 4,024. In January, FIIs re-allocate their funds for the emerging markets and India is expected to increase its share among the emerging market portfolio. Last year, India was second after Taiwan among emerging countries in terms of FII inflows. While India had received $8 billion, FIIs inflow in

Taiwan was $15 billion and they had withdrawn over $12.5 billion from Korea.

Going by the potential of Indian market, India would be the number one destination for FII investment in 2007,  says Sanjay Kaul of FE Securities. Against $8 billion in 2006, this year, FII inflow is expected to be much more. More importantly, the investment by domestic players either through mutual funds or directly in equities is expected to increase significantly in the coming years, says another leading fund manager.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has made it mandatory that all the depository account-holders need to submit their PAN card numbers from January 1 this year. Foreign fund managers are of the opinion that it would make the market healthy. “The PAN drive would make the market clean by filtering out unaccounted investment,” says a foreign fund manager, who did not wish to be named.

Email Arun Kumar: arunkumar@hindustantimes.com