Mumbai: The SENSEX opened firm and showed signs of a moderate rally in line with a smart recovery in select heavy-weighted counters at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on January 30 on fresh buying support.

The BSE sensitive index opened remarkably higher at 3,246.54 as against January 29 close of 3,238.02 and later rose to a high of 3,253.76 in early trading.

Surprisingly, the upsurge seemed to be led by Information Technology (IT) counters, which were under heavy pressure in the past few days due to disappointing Q3 results by key software companies like Satyam Computers and HCL Technologies.

Citing a turnaround on Wall Street on January 29 night, brokers said foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have remained consistent buyers since January 8, except for a net sale of Rs 45 crore in a couple of sessions on January 27 and 28.

They were believed to have been shifting their attention from IT sector to old economy stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the NASDAQ composite index gained about 22 points and 16 points respectively.

SBI, Satyam Computers, RIL, MTNL, Infosys Tech, HCL Tech, HLL and Hero Honda were quoted higher.

PTI