Mumbai: Discounting government's statements on Kelkar taskforce's suggestions on tax reforms on November 13, the SENSEX opened on a promising note and firmed up further in line with a rally in select counters at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on November 14 on fresh buying support.

Though the government has termed the recommendations made by committee as a mere consultation paper, brokers said key stocks which have high weightage in the BSE barometer, found good support from speculators and retail investors.

Investors push up the heavyweighted counters up and then book profits in latter part of the session, they added.

The BSE Sensitive Index opened moderately higher at 2,963.82 as against November 13 close of 2,960.66 and later rose further to a high of 2,979.63 before being quoted at 2,977.64.

Market sources also attributed the optimistic trend to a sharp fall in international oil prices to five-month low on November 13 after Iraq accepted a tough new UN resolution on disarmament.

PTI