Mumbai: The SENSEX that turned free-float from September 1, opened moderately higher and continued its upsurge during morning trading in line with a fresh stocks rally on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on September 1 on sustained buying support by investors.

The BSE sensitive index opened moderately up at 4,248.07 as against August 29 close of 4,244.73 and later moved towards 4,300-mark rising to a high at 4,295.00 before being quoted at 4,291.58 at 10.54 am (IST).

Pharma and cement stocks hogged the limelight and were quoted sharp up. ACC, Grasim Ind, GACL, CIPLA, Dr Reddy's Lab, L&T and several others showed sharp gains on fresh buying by operators as well as institutional investors.

Speculators which have been extremely bullish, were seen making large commitments on the back of consistent and record net investments by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) that have been continuously pumping funds in Indian markets.

Increased participation by retail investors also boosted the sentiment.

Among the top gainers, Aurobindo Pharma were quoted up by 5.82 per cent, Cadila Health by 5.20 per cent, L&T by 4.66 per cent, Grasim Ind by 4.47 per cent, Zee Telefilms by 4.11 per cent, Cipla by 4.01 per cent, Tata Tea by 3.94 per cent, Adlabs by 3.05 per cent and Polaris by 2.46 per cent.

However, HPCL, Nestle, Infosys Tech, Maruti Udyog showed marginal falls on selling.

PTI