Mumbai: Riding piggyback on a good response to the Government's disinvestment programme, stocks bounced back with a vengeance after a two-week battering and the sensex recovered by a whopping 3.76 per cent in the week under review on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

PSU (public sector unit) stocks were in the limelight throughout the week as the Government showed confidence in overshooting divestment target after the success of IPCL public issue at the end of February that followed a strong response to the public offerings in GAIL, Dredging Corporation and ONGC in the week.

Dredging Corp issue was oversubscribed by over five times while the GAIL public offer by 7.3 times. However, Oil giant ONGC created history with its issue oversubscribed within a few minutes after the opening.

Discounting a huge negative impact from a top heavyweight FMCG major HLL, The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index recouped by 212.84 points to end the week at 5880.35 as against last weekend's close of 5667.51. It had fallen by 344 points or 5.72 per cent in the preceding two weeks.

HLL suffered a sharp setback on heavy pounding. Selling in the scrip was largely attributed to the company's decision to cut prices of detergents, which, in turn would impact the margins. The price cuts were in line with the P&G's decision to cut prices of FMCG products by 50 per cent.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have made net investments of Rs 886 crore in three sessions between March 1 and 4. They were believed to have made heavy allocations for divestment programme. Domestic institutions and retailers too have made fairly good purchases.