Mumbai: After a turnaround last weekend, the sensex opened firm and later showed signs of further recovery on the Stock Exchange today (Feb 09, 2004) on expectations of increased purchases by institutional investors.

The BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) Benchmark 30-share Index that had spurted by 66 points on Friday (Feb 06, 2004), opened remarkably higher at 5810.21 as against previous close of 5786.35 and later rose to a high at 5845.75 before being quoted at 5822.36 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

Brokers said domestic financial institutions and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were believed to be buyers in some blue chip counters at the prevailing lower price levels.

FIIs have made net investments of Rs 701 crore in the first three sessions of last week raising hopes that they might increase their activity in the current week.

Key counters like ACC, Bajaj Auto, BHEL, BSES, Cipla, Grasim Ind, HDFC, HDFC Bank, HPCL, Infosys Tech, ITC, RIL, Satyam Computers and SBI were quoted remarkably up on fresh buying support.

However, Bharti Televenture, ICICI Bank, L&T, and Dr Reddy's Lab showed moderate losses.

The market is expected to remain volatile as operators are likely to avail of any upsurge to book profits in key counters.