Sensex opens high at 13,827.77 pts, up by 40 pts.

Mumbai, Jan 2 (UNI) On the very first day of trading in the new year, the Sensitive Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today opened high at 13,827.77 points with a modest gain of around 40 points from the previous day's close of 13,786.91 points, on account of fresh speculative demand from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and local investors, brokers said.

The market opened on a firm note, as buying interest continued for the index pivotals.

The BSE Sensex was up 39.40 points to 13833.08. It opened higher at 13827.77 and advanced to strike a high of 13856.08 as buying progressed. It touched a low of 13797.44.

Bajaj Auto was the top gainer, up 2 per cent to Rs 2670.50 on 6529 shares. They had yesterday declared that sales in December rose 24% to 214,928 units from a year ago.

Maruti Udyog rose 1.80 per cent to Rs 944.05 on 18,521 shares.

Automobile major, Maruti Udyog sold 56,985 vehicles in December, a 23.7 per cent rise from last year.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) gained 0.21 per cent to Rs 1,273.

Hero Honda was the top loser, down 0.70 per cent to Rs 757 on a volume of 6277 shares.

Trading is expected to be listless as most Asian markets are closed today.

US equity markets too are closed today, brokers added.

UNI