Saturday, November 5 2005 17:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: A month-long bear phase was arrested and the Sensex bounced back with a vengeance ending the three-day week with a whopping 387 points as operators created fresh positions for new derivative contract on the back of heavy purchases by domestic mutual funds.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) had fallen by a massive 949 points or 11 per cent in the last four weekly slides in reaction to Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) outflows.

The week had only three trading days including the moorat session for Samvat 2062 on Tuesday in view of two holidays on Thursday and Friday on account of Bhau Beeze and Ramzan-Id.

The Sensex witnessed a strong rebound during the week and gradually moved upwards to a high of 8,086.84 before ending the week at 8,072.75 on Wednesday as against last weekend's close of 7,685.64, a net rise of 387.11 points or 5.04 per cent.

The market was in oversold zone and prevailing valuations were considered attractive at the current lower levels while the dramatic bounce was largely credited to several positive factors, besides powerful purchases by mutual funds.

Key positive factors included the decision by the world's largest mobile operator, Vadafone to pick up 10 per cent stake in Bharti Tele-Venture for US dlr 1.5 bln or Rs 6,656 crore.

Investors were also enthused by a statement by Stephen S Roach, Managing Director and Chief economist of Morgan Stanley that India's economy was more balanced than China's and the country could sustain over 7 per cent growth for a long period of time.