Mumbai: Discounting overnight sharp setback on the Nasdaq market, technology stocks rallied smartly aiding the SENSEX to end in positive territory on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on October 17 on fairly good buying by speculators as well as some foreign funds.

Key IT stocks like Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers and HCL Technologies scored handsome gains despite a sharp fall in the Nasdaq Composite Index by over 50 points and by about 220 points in the Dow Jones Industrials on October 16, after a strong four-session winning streak.

Attributing fresh buying in IT counters by foreign funds which have been net buyers in the past few sessions, to excellent performance by IT sector in the second quarter, market sources said oil PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) stocks too surged up to a strong finish on reiteration by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that economic reforms are irreversible.

L&T also hogged the limelight and recorded a sharp rise on hectic buying support prompted by the Grasim's announcement about an open offer for a 20 per cent stake in L&T at Rs 190 per share.

Reflecting remarkable gains in key heavyweights, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index which opened marginally higher at 2995.70, later ended above the 3000-psychological barrier at 3006.14 as against yesterday's close of 2994.99, netting a gain of 11.15 points.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index improved by 5.52 points to 1493.17 from previous close of 1487.65.

Initially, the market met with a moderate resistance due to a hike in petrol and diesel prices.

PTI