Mumbai: Led by Infosys Technologies, key IT stocks witnessed a mild rally aiding the SENSEX to move further upward at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on fresh buying prompted by announcement of better-than-expected first quarter results by the IT bellwether.

Infosys Technologies on July 10 morning announced a growth of about 15 per cent in net profits and 25 per cent increase in sales for the first quarter of the current fiscal, market sources said, adding "the results are far better than the market had anticipated".

The BSE Sensitive Index opened fractionally higher at 3,359.47 as against the previous close of 3,358.58 and later rose to a high 3366.74 before being quoted at 3,362.16 at 10.30 am.

The market discounted a sharp fall by about 24 points in the NASDAQ Composite Index and a fresh decline by 178.81 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on July 9 night.

Several software stocks met with fresh purchases by investors in view of encouraging performance by the IT major Infosys Tech, while select old economy counters were quoted moderately lower on some selling pressure.

PTI