Mumbai, July 17 - Indian equities were ruling higher Friday after a strong opening on the back some positive signals from the government on the continuity of reforms and strong overnight rally in the US markets.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened at 14,325.58 points against Thursday's close at 14,250.25 points, and soon soared to a high of 14,607.11.

Some two hours into trading, the key 30-share index was ruling at 14,568.09 points, with a gain of 317.84 points, or 2.23 percent, over the previous day's close, data with the exchange showed.

Auto stocks were the flavour of the day, with the specific index for the sector up 3.75 percent, followed by 3.64 percent gain for the IT index, 3.48 for tech index, 3.14 percent for realty and 2.91 for banking.