The stock market benchmark Sensex recovered from a 490-point crash on Friday and ended 17 points up at 11,851.93, shrugging off the initial panic following market regulator Sebi's ban on key depository participants.
The market witnessed a intra-day swing of 532.71 points, the biggest since May 17, 2004.
The recovery was credited to constant buying support after midsession by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Indian financial institutions.
Crumpling to the day's low of 11,344.61, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index later staged a sharp recovery and even jumped to the intra-day high of 11,877.32 before ending the day at 11,851.93 from Thursday's close of 11.835.02, a net gain of 16.91 points or 0.14 per cent.
FIIs and mutual funds salvaged the situation by making aggressive purchases in blue chip counters, particularly key stocks RIL, TCS Ltd, NTPC, HLL, ACC, Maruti Udyog, ICICI Bank and Bharti Tele, which even ended with handsome gains.
Initially, investors were jittery over the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) overnight move to bar 24 key operators, including Indiabulls and Karvy Stock Broking, from operating in the stock markets and banned 12 depository participants from opening fresh accounts.
{{/usCountry}}Initially, investors were jittery over the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) overnight move to bar 24 key operators, including Indiabulls and Karvy Stock Broking, from operating in the stock markets and banned 12 depository participants from opening fresh accounts.
{{/usCountry}}The crucial institutional purchases, however, provided the moral support to retail traders and operators.
Meanwhile, the Sebi deferred its order banning Indiabulls Securities subject to verification of clients.
Investors termed initial mayhem as a knee-jerk reaction from market players.