Mumbai: The SENSEX opened marginally higher and later moved irregularly in a small range in line with a narrowly mixed trend at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on May 16 on alternate bouts of buying and selling from operators.

The BSE sensitive index opened slightly up at 3,399.14 as against previous close of 3,395.59 and later fluctuated in a range of 34 points between 3,405.29 and 3,371.65 before being quoted at 3,380.28 at 10:45 hours (IST).

Several key stocks like BHEL, GACL, Glaxo, Grasim, HCL Techno, HLL, Infosys Tech, RIL, SBI, Tisco and Zee Telefilms were quoted moderately lower due to continued selling pressure induced by Indo-Pak border tension.

However, BSES, Bajaj Auto, MTNL, HPCL and some others showed gains on fresh buying support.

Select second-line low priced counters also showed gains on small purchases by institutional investors.

PTI