Mumbai: The SENSEX opened on a firm note and later fluctuated irregularly, recovering its early losses on alternate bouts of buying and selling during morning trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on June 3.

After a strong start at 3,212.99 as against June 2 close of 3,206.38, the BSE sensitive index later dropped sharply to a low at 3,189.74 before recovering at 3,205.07 at 10.30 am (IST).

Reacting negatively to reports that monsoon is likely to be delayed by about a week, investors pressed sales in several counters in a bid to book profits at higher levels.

Heavy weighted counter HLL were quoted sharply lower due to the adverse reports on monsoon.

Other index-based stocks like Grasim Ind, Infosys Tech, Zee Telefilms, Satyam Computers, L&T and a few others were quoted moderately lower.

However, bank shares staged a smart recovery on fresh buying from institutional investors.

PTI