Mumbai: Powered by announcement of excellent second quarter performance by Infosys Technologies, the SENSEX opened sharply up and rose past 3,000-level at early stages on the back of continued rally in IT stocks on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on October 11.

The BSE Sensitive Index opened on a strong footing at 2,990.99 from the October 10 close of 2,969.49 and later rose to a high of 3,005.78 before being quoted at 2,992.43 at 10:30 hours (IST).

The rally in technology stocks was prompted by a surprise second quarter performance by Infosys Technologies, which reported a jump of 12.01 per cent in the Q2 net profit at 225.77 crore, much more than the market projections.

Besides, Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers and HCL Tech that were quoted substantially up at early stages, several second-line software counters showed marked gains on fresh buying by operators despite negative activity by Foreign Institutional Investors which have been net sellers form the past few days.

The sentiment was partly aided by a strong turnaround on Wall Street on October 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite Index rose by 247.68 points and 49.26 points respectively.

HDFC, which has been brought into the index family on October 10, too was in keen demand ahead of its meeting to consider a bonus issue and buyback on October 17.

PTI