Mumbai: The sensex opened firm and showed signs of recovery during morning trading after the overnight sharp setback on the Stock Exchange today (Jul 1, 2004) on the back of fresh buying support by operators.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened higher at 4813.76 as against yesterday's (Jun 30, 2004) close of 4795.46 and later rose to a high of 4830.43 before being quoted at 4795.85 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

The sentiment was also aided by a smart rally on the Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index yesterday ended higher by 22.05 points and 12.86 points respectively.

However, operators seemed to be cautious in the light of slowdown in FII activity. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were believed to be engaged in churning of portfolios before the presentation of the Union Budget on July 8 and made a meager net investments of Rs 21 crore on Monday and Tuesday.

Brokers said the hike in interest rates by 25 basis points by the US Federal Reserve was discounted by the market, which was expecting a rise of 50 basis points.

Blue chip counters like RIL, SBI, HDFC, MTNL, ONGC and Tata Power were quoted substantially higher.

Titan, Pfizer, Hero Honda, NIIT, NIC Piramal, Tisco and GE shipping showed moderate falls.