Wednesday, January 4 2006 10:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The Sensex today (Jan 04, 2006) crossed the 9600-point level within the first five minutes of trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on sustained buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

The BSE Benchmark 30-share index opened marginally lower at 9523.29 as against yesterday's close of 9539.37, but soon shot up to a high of 9608.51 by 10.00 am.

FIIs which made a net investment of Rs 477.70 crore on January 2, continued to lend good support.

During early trading, small-cap shares were in the limelight, brokers said.