Mumbai: The SENSEX opened strong and rose past 3,250-resistance level during morning trading on the back of all-round stocks rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on June 5 on heavy purchases by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), as well as operators.

FIIs that have stepped up activity on Indian bourses and made net investments of Rs 713 crore in seven sessions between May 26 and June 3, 2003, were believed to be heavy buyers in almost all the old economy stocks, particularly RIL, which has highest weightage in the SENSEX.

The BSE sensitive index 30-share index opened firm at 3,233.05 as against June 4 close of 3,216.49 and later surged up 3,250-resistance and was quoted at 3,260.48 at 10.30 am (IST).

Brokers said foreign funds were seen placing buy orders in heavy weighted counters like RIL, Infosys Technologies, SBI, and several other IT and bank shares.

The sentiment was aided by sustained firm trend on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average and the NASDAQ composite index ended sharply up by 116.03 points and 31.09 points on June 4.

PTI