Mumbai: Stocks bounced back from their early lows and select heavyweights even scored impressive gains on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Sept 25 on hectic short- covering by speculators and some buying by retail investors.

Initially, the market reacted negatively to a deadly terrorist strike at Swaminarayan temple at Gandhinagar, with the SENSEX opening sharply lower at 2973.97, down by about 48 points from previous close of 3022.25.

Immediately after resumption of trading, operators, however, rushed to cover their short positions following a call for nation-wide bandh on Sept 26 given by Shiv Sena as well as Vishwa Hindu Parishad as it is mandatory for traders to square up positions at the end of derivatives contract.

Market sources said several operators were short and were forced to cover positions even though the market is officially open for trading tomorrow (Sept 26), on fears of low attendance on the last day of derivatives contract.

The strong turnaround in stocks aided the SENSEX to recoup its early losses and finish at 3021.08, netting a minor fall of 1.17 points.

The SENSEX derived strength from impressive gains in IT heavyweights Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers and HCL Technologies besides Zee Telefilms, Ranbaxy Lab and Dr Reddy's Lab, which recorded smart advances.

However, the broad-based BSE-100 Index improved by 2.63 points to 1486.89 from previous close of 1484.26.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by another 190 points on Sept 25 night while the Nasdaq Composite Index showed a fall of about 2.79 points.

PTI