Mumbai: The Sensex opened firm and moved upwards during morning trading in line with a fresh stocks upsurge at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Feb 18, 2004) on sustained buying support by operators and retail investors.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened strong at 6060.14 as against yesterday's close of 6035.80 and later advanced further to a high at 6081.82 before being quoted at 6075.97 at 10.30 a.m.

Largely attributing the strong trend at early stages to the stocks rally on Wall Street last night, brokers said the Government's hints about discount for retail investors in ensuing key public issues in primary markets is expected to help sustain the market even as the IPOs (Initial Public Offers) are likely to result in diversion of investments from secondary markets.

The Nasdaq Composite Index spurted by 27 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 87 points yesterday.

Though Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have slowed down activity, their net investments of Rs 66 crore on Monday also had sentimental impact on the market.

Key counters like Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers, Tata Motors, SBI, RIL, Tisco, HPCL, Hindalco, Hero Honda, Grasim, Dr Reddy's Lab, Cipla and BHEL were quoted remarkably higher during morning trading.

Among the top gainers, Cadila Health were quoted up by 5.13 per cent, RCF by 5.04 per cent, Torrent Pharma by 4.92 per cent, D-Link by 3.85 per cent, Ipca Lab by 3.60 per cent, JB Chem by 3.53 per cent, IPCL by 3.27 per cent, Corp Bank by 3.23 per cent and Abbott by 3.07 per cent.