By IANS
Mumbai : It was an unprecedented but smart recovery at Indian stock markets as bulls fought bears in the last hour of trade. The market slipped from higher levels and shed nearly 2 percent on heavy selling but bulls helped the benchmark index pull back.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shut shop at 18,526.32 points, down by 76.30 or 0.41 percent.
The broader S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 5,515 points, down by 41.70 points or 0.75 percent.
The Sensex recovered over 400 points from the day’s low. Nifty recovered over 160 points.
The bailout was led mainly by banking giants State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank and ICICI Bank, along with oil marketing and refiners like Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum and Reliance Petroleum.
While the Sensex showed weak trends after slipping into the red in early trade, bank stocks were in the limelight with strong gains. The BSE Bankex was up marginally at 10,319.
About 939 shares have advanced, 2,066 shares declined, and 68 shares are unchanged.
The BSE mid-cap index ended at 8,090.84 points, down by 1.6 percent. The BSE small-cap index ended at 10,060.87 points by declining 2 percent.
The top gainers on the Sensex were SBI, gaining 4.04 percent at Rs.2,241.80, ACC scaled up 2.21 percent at Rs.1,103.30 and ICICI Bank moved up 2.16 percent at Rs.1,126.90.
The top losers on the Sensex were DLF, which declined 5.49 percent at Rs.822.75, Reliance Energy moved down by 5.18 percent at Rs.1,605.10 and NTPC slid by 4.99 percent at Rs.227.55.