Mumbai: The SENSEX opened better and improved further at early stages in line with a rally in old economy stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on January 9 on fresh purchases by domestic funds and buying by retail investors.

The BSE Sensitive Index opened remarkably higher at 3,367.34 as against the January 8 close of 3,357.87 and later rose to a high of 3,379.73 before being quoted at 3,376.90 at 10:30 hours (IST).

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) hogged the limelight during morning trading on fresh buying support prompted by reports that Attorney General Soli Sorabjee is likely to give by January 10 his opinion on legal aspects of privatisation of oil public sector undertakings (PSUs) HPCL and BPCL (Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd).

RIL, Grasim Ind, SBI, BHEL and ITC were quoted higher on fairly good buying by local funds.

Pharma stocks also surged up on consistent buying support from speculators and retail investors.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite Index finished lower by about 139 points and 28 points on January 8 night respectively.

PTI