Mumbai: Continuing its upward march, the Sensex opened strong and rose past 6100-mark during morning trading in line with a smart stocks rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Jan 6, 2004) on sustained buying support.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened firm at 6068.68 as against yesterday's close of 6039.00 and rose to a high at 6101.04 before being quoted at 6096.53 at 10:30 hours (IST).

Sustained flow of funds from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which continued to make net investments in the current year coupled with hectic buying support by bulls that have been building up positions for the past few days have driven the market to dizzy heights, brokers said.

Attributing fresh buying support to expectations of encouraging third quarter results, brokers said key stocks were in the limelight on heavy bull support.

Heavyweights like RIL, ONGC, L&T, Satyam Computers, Tata Motors, Tisco, Zee Telefilms and Grasim were quoted sharply up following consistent purchases by institutional investors.

The sentiment was also aided by smart rally on Wall Street last night. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose by 40.68 points to hit nearly two-year high at 2047.36 yesterday.