Mumbai: Stocks recovered part of the losses after initial sharp setback and the Sensex ended 76 points lower on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today (May 31, 2004) on late short-covering by operators and buying support from retailers.

After a sharp fall of 170 points within 10 minutes of trading, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index rebounded from its intra-day low of 4665.21 and later fluctuated erratically before ending at 4759.62 as against last Friday's close of 4835.39, a net fall of 75.77 points or 1.57 per cent.

In a roller-coaster ride, the BSE barometer fluctuated widely in range of 4830.08 and 4665.21 following heavy selling pressure in PSU and Banking sectors.

Attributing the partial recovery to buying support by operators after the mid-session, brokers said operators covered short positions after heavy sell-off last weekend and at early stages of the session this morning.

Initially, investors pressed sales on fears of reversal of economic reforms as well as withdrawal by foreign funds.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have withdrawn $ 800 million for Indian capital markets in May.