Mumbai: Well supported by an upsurge in heavyweight counter Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL), the SENSEX rallied smartly during morning trading after opening on a promising note at the Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE), Mumbai on April 16 on good buying support from investors.

The BSE sensitive index opened moderately higher at 3005.35 as against yesterday's close of 2997.38 and later rose to the intra-day high at 3021.00 before being quoted at 3014.61 at 10.30 am.

Brokers said the consumer giant HLL was in keen demand during the initial period of the session ahead of the company's board meeting to finalise first quarter working results which will be announced around 12.30 pm.

Besides, other heavyweights like Infosys Tech, Satyam Computers, Telco, Tisco and select others were also quoted higher on fresh buying support.

The sentiment was also aided by continued up-trend on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index moved up further last night.

Among the top gainers, RCF were quoted up by 10.56 per cent, Hinduja TMT by 6.93 per cent, SCI by 5.17 per cent, Sterlite Optical by 2.97 per cent, Bharat Earth by 2.80 per cent, Satyam Computers 2.59 per cent, Zensar by 2.56 per cent, Indian Rayon by 2.44 per cent, Kotak Mahindra by 2.32 per cent and Wockhardt by 2.27 per cent.

However, Hughes Software, Mascot System, Mastek, Indian Overseas Bank, Vijaya Bank and NIIT showed moderate falls.

PTI