Mumbai: The SENSEX opened on a promising note but later fell back as stocks met with a strong resistance at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on October 3 on heavy selling by operators and retail investors.

After opening better at 2,963.61 as against a close of 2,959.66 on October 1, the BSE Sensitive Index dropped to a low of 2,942.84 before being quoted at 2,952.04 at 10:30 hours (IST).

Attributing the better start to reports that the Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has defended the process of divestment in public sector undertakings (PSUs) rebutting the argument that disinvestment created joblessness and distress sale of PSUs, market sources said that some operators pressed heavy sales in heavy-weights like HLL and RIL to halt the market moving upwards.

Vajpayee's statement, however, helped oil PSU stocks to get fresh support at early stages.

PTI