Mumbai: The Sensex opened on a strong footing and later fluctuated wildly in choppy trading at early stages on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (Nov 3) on alternate bouts of heavy buying and selling, ahead of announcement of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) credit policy later in the day.

Bolstered by heavy flow of funds, the market opened with a big bang at 4,946.93 as against Friday's close of 4,906.87 and rose past the magic 5,000-mark to a high at 5,003.93. It later dropped sharply to 4,967.63 before being quoted at 4,988.38 at 10.30 hrs (IST).

Riding piggyback on hectic buying prompted by optimistic credit policy to be announced by the apex bank during the day, share prices later moved in a wide range in extreme volatility as a result of heavy purchases alternated by profit booking.

Majority of players expected a cut in the bank rate along with an upper revision of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the review of inflation outlook, brokers said.

PTI