Mumbai: The stock markets today bounced ending a streak on losses for six days in a row and the BSE benchmark Sensex registered a gain of 327 points.

In choppy trade, the market fell back to previous closing levels after rising by 331 points in the initial five minutes of trading on sustained withdrawals by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

Renewed buying spree after mid-session, however, lifted the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) barometer to the intra-day high of 18,910.46, a gain of 384.14 points.

Finally, the Sensex ended the day at 18,852.87, a net rise of 326.55 points or 1.76 per cent over yesterday's close of 18,526.32.

Similarly, the broad-based SP CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange jumped by 89.25 points or 1.62 per cent to close at 5,608.60 from previous close of 5,519.35.

Asian markets showed stability during the day and ended on strong with the Hang Seng, Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Straits Times up in range of 2.0 to 0.39 per cent. While Taiwan's Weighted Index was down 1.85 per cent. European markets too were strong in early trade.

Attributing negative reaction at around mid-day to serial bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh, market players said operators covered their shorts due to week-end considerations in the light of continued global uncertainty.

Heavyweight stocks such as RIL, REL, HDFC, LT, DLF Ltd, Tata Motors, BHEL and Bajaj Auto registered sharp gains.

Source : PTI