Mumbai: Despite announcement of discouraging financial results by RIL and MTNL, the SENSEX opened firm and later moved narrowly at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on February 1 on fresh buying support.

The BSE Sensitive Index opened up at 3,334.69 over January 31 close of 3,311.03 and later fluctuated in a narrow range between 3,344.36 and 3,326.49 before being quoted at 3329.65 at 10:30 hours (IST).

The net profit of Reliance Industries is down by 4.1 per cent at Rs 464 crore in the third quarter. Dealers said the results are in line with market expectations but the scrip witnessed heavy selling from domestic institutions, mainly Unit Trust of India which has a fairly good chunk of RIL shares.

Market sources said investors were making commitments in select stocks on hopes that FIIs which have been net sellers for over last couple of weeks, will make fresh purchases in the light of sharp price rally on Wall Street on January 30 and 31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up by about 150 points and the Nasdaq Index by 16 points on January 31.



PTI