Mumbai: The market today (Dec 7, 2004) recovered smartly from its lows at the fag end but still ended with a modest fall in volatile activity even as the Reliance "ownership issues" caused heavy selling pressure during the session.

Fresh purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) helped market bounce back in the last 30 minutes of trading even though domestic investors including mutual funds continued to book profits, taking a somewhat cautious stance in the overheated market.

The BSE Benchmark 30-share Index opened up at 6324.07 and later fluctuated erratically in a range of 6354.26 and 6287.46 before ending the day at 6316.28 as against yesterday's (Dec 8, 2004) close of 6322.50, a net loss of 6.22 points or 0.10 per cent.

Reliance group shares witnessed heavy selling pressure as differences over "ownership issues" between Ambani brothers continued amid attempts reportedly being made by other family members to find amicable settlement.

RIL faced investors wrath and dipped sharply during major part of the session. The scrip, however recovered partially at the fag end on buying support at the lower levels.

ICICI Bank, however, rallied smartly on announcement of a sponsored ADR by the bank. The board will meet on December 13 to consider a proposal to sponsor the ADR issue against the existing equity shares.

Blue chip counters including Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Zee Telefilms, HPCL, HLL, ONGC, Maruti Udyog, HDFC Bank, GACL, Hindalco, ITC and ICICI Bank recorded marked gains.

RIL, REL, Tata Steel, SBI, L&T, Grasim, Dr Reddy's, BHEL and Bajaj Auto closed with losses.