Mumbai: Information Technology (IT) counters were in the limelight at opening session on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on December 17 due to fresh buying support in the wake of firm NASDAQ advices.

However, recently favoured banking stocks reacted downwards on profit selling by operators. The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 3,338.88 and immediately touched a high of 3,347.92. Later if fell back to a low of 3,318.78 before being quoted at 3,323.20 as against the December 16 close of 3,328.39.

IT stocks recovered moderately following positive advices from NASDAQ where the tech- heavy NASDAQ Composite Index shot up by 37.91 points last night. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also flared up by 193.69 points.

Despite a smart upsurge in software counters, Polaris Software dropped sharply following a news that the chairman and managing director of the company has been arrested by Indonesian police in Jakarta over some dispute between the company and a local bank in Jakarta.

PTI