Mumbai: After initial firmness, the Sensex met a strong resistance as select heavyweight counters came under pressure during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange today (Oct 6, 2004) due to selling pressure at higher price levels.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened modestly higher at 5761.44 as against yesterday's close of 5758.67 and later advanced further to a high of 5782.97 before being quoted at 5754.95 at 10:30 am, down by 3.72 points.

However, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which have been consistent net buyers to the tune of Rs 2785 crore during September and have stepped up activity in the past few days, reported net investments of Rs 413 crore on Monday.

Operators and retail investors seemed to be booking profits at the prevailing higher price levels, brokers said.

Banking and refinery sector continued to be in the limelight on heavy buying support from institutional investors as well as domestic operators.

Bank of India, Vijaya Bank, UTI Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank and Allahabad Bank were among the top ten gainers during morning trading.

Blue chip counters including HPCL, BPCL, RIL, ONGC, HLL, Chennai Petro, Kochi Refinery, ONGC, Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, HDFC Bank, HDFC, BHEL and Bharti Tele-Venture were quoted remarkably higher on fresh buying support.

However, Tata Motors, Satyam Computers, Wipro, Zee Tele, Infosys Tech, Hinduja TMT, Mastek and Dr Reddy's Lab showed moderate falls.