The Indian stock markets are on fire. Sensex, the 30-share sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, has rocketted from a low of 2,904 in April, 2003 to surge past 5,400 levels in December.

Experts feel the market will rally till the Union Budget of 2004 and the stock markets will be generally buoyant in December, January and February.

The Sensex, first compiled in 1986, is a 'Market Capitalisation-Weighted' Index of 30 component stocks representing a sample of large and financially sound companies. The BSE-Sensex is the benchmark index of the Indian capital markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex comprises: ACC, Bajaj Auto, Bharti Tele-venture, BHEL, BSES, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Hero Honda, Hindustan Lever, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Hindustan Petroleum, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, Infosys, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, MTNL, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Ranbaxy Lab, Reliance Industries, Satyam Computers, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Tisco, Wipro, Zee Telefilm.

(The Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, also called the Bombay Stock Exchange building).

Photograph: Jewella C Miranda