The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex is expected to cross the 7,000 mark in the next one year, according to a survey by DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Manager.

Over the next 12 months, 60 per cent of fund managers pegged the Sensex to be in the range of 7000-7600, 30 per cent are expecting it to be at 7,000, and the rest spread across the range, DSPML said in its report on Friday.

DSPML said: "The fund managers' estimates are much more aggressive than our own Sensex target. We raised our target to 6,500 for December 2004 on the back of stronger than expected flows from new investors and likely better performance from the index heavy weights."

The survey also shows that both foreign institutional investors and domestic flows are expected to remain positive.

Currently, the Sensex is ruling around the 5,700 mark.

Referring to corporates, the DSPML survey showed that listed corporates are likely to show 15-20 per cent growth in profit over the next one year, while the investments in equity market will post double digit returns in the same period.

"The outlook on the corporate profitability is largely positive and 70 per cent of managers polled by the survey expect earnings per share to grow by 15 per cent, while 20 per cent managers pegged EPS growth at 20 per cent for 12 months," it added.