Mumbai: Led by oil major HPCL (Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd), select old-economy heavyweights notched handsome gains helping the SENSEX to close in positive terrain on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on February 11.

Some of the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) stocks attracted good buying support on expectation of speedy privatisation process, brokers said.

Smart to moderate rises in select index-based shares like Grasim, HLL, ACC, ITC, Ranbaxy, RIL, ICICI Bank and MTNL helped the SENSEX to end firm.

Had it not been for a marked fall in select counters such as Infosys Tech, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, L&T, Satyam Computer, HDFC, Nestle and GACL, the index would have been finished much higher, dealers said.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 3269.85 as against yesterday's close of 3256.86 and after moving in a narrow range of 3278.49 and 3249.63, ended at 3261.46, a modest gain of 0.14 per cent over the previous close.

The broad-based BSE-100 index, however, eased to 1612.74 at close from previous close of 1612.96.

IT counters, however, turned weak on selling by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and speculators, after resuming firm on the back of marginal recovery of 14.21 points in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index last night.

Dealers attributed initial firmness to the news that Iraq had approved a UN demand for surveillance flights and France, Russia and Germany issued a joint declaration calling for more inspections in Iraq, part of a diplomatic initiative aimed at disarming Saddam Hussein without war.

PTI