Mumbai: The SENSEX opened moderately higher and later rallied past the 3,300-mark at early stages in line with sustained upward march on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on February 18 on fresh buying support from institutional investors.

The BSE sensitive index opened moderately up at 3,284.04 as against February 17 close of 3,282.45 and later rose to a high of 3,301.34 before being quoted at 3,292.23 at 10.30 am (IST).

Investors continued to make commitments, as the weapons inspectors report on Iraq and worldwide anti-war protests over the weekend pushed back the threat of imminent war against Iraq, coupled with indication of a favourable Union Budget.

Bank shares attracted fairly good buying interest on reports that the government is planning to raise the ceiling on foreign holding in Indian banks in the forthcoming Budget.

Heavy weighted counters like Grasim Ind, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Hindustan lever Ltd (HLL), Reliance Ind Ltd (RIL) and Telco showed moderate gains.

PTI