Mumbai: The Sensex opened firm and later witnessed narrow movements as the market, once again, turned cautious during morning trading in the absence of worthwhile buying support and slow down in FII activity.

Investors seemed to have begun squaring up of positions taking a cautious stance even as the exit polls after the first phase of elections indicated the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as clear winner and prompted a sharp rally yesterday (Apr 21, 2004).

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened up at 5888.17 as against yesterday's close of 5876.42 and later fluctuated in a narrow range between 5902.86 and 5876.00 before being quoted at 5876.72 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have slowed down activity and reported a net purchases of Rs 12 crore on April 20 after a hefty inflow of Rs 693 crore the previous day.

Key counters like Zee Telefilms, Wipro, Tisco, Ranbaxy Lab, MTNL, L&T, ITC, HPCL, HDFC Bank, Cipla, Bharti Tele and Bajaj Auto were quoted moderately higher.

However, heavyweights like Tata Motors, SBI, RIL, HLL, Infosys Tech, HDFC and ACC showed losses on selling pressure.

However, Guj Gas, i-Gate, Indo Rama, Crompton Greaves, Indian Rayon were the prominent losers.