Mumbai: The SENSEX opened marginally up even as shares of public sector undertakings (PSU) rallied further at early stages on October 8 on fresh buying support from operators.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index opened slightly higher at 2,954.29 as against October 7 close of 2,952.78 and later moved up to a high of 2,965.22 before being quoted at 2,963.25 at 10.30 am (IST).

HPCL and BPCL remained in the forefront leading other PSU stocks upwards as buying continued on strong expectations that privatisation of strategic oil companies would be cleared after Prime Minister returned from his three-nation Europe tour shortly.

Market sources, however, said PSU stocks are likely to witness selling at higher levels and did not rule out fairly heavy buying in software sector in the light of hopes of announcement of encouraging working results by select companies.

Cement shares also surged up and were quoted remarkably up on a likely hike in cement prices.

PTI