Mumbai: Well supported by a sharp rally in battered heavyweights RIL and HLL, the SENSEX opened firm and later surged up further at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on hectic buying support from operators.

Brokers said that expectations of the interest rate cut by 50 basis points ahead of announcement of busy season credit policy by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during the day, also bolstered the sentiment.

The BSE sensitive index opened remarkably higher at 2,846.80 as against a close of 2,834.41 on October 28 and later rose sharply to a high of 2,867.93 before being quoted at 2,856.04 at 10:30 hours (IST).

RIL attracted hectic buying prompted by reports that the company has struck one of the largest gas reserves in the country in Andhra Pradesh's Godavari basin, which is expected to boost RIL's bottom-line in the near future, brokers added.

Another heavyweight HLL that has been battered in the past couple of sessions too bounced back on fairly heavy purchases at the lower levels.

However, second-line IT counters witnessed selling pressure in the light of discouraging performance by some of major software companies. Digital Global, NIIT, Hinduja TMT and a few others were quoted sharply down on selling.

PTI