Monday, April 10 2006 17:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Stocks today (Apr 10, 2006) bounced back with a vengeance after last weekend's meltdown, lifting the Sensex by 73 points in high volatility on hectic buying support while Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) made some withdrawals.

The market witnessed aggressive purchases in last 30 minutes of the session, which remained extremely volatile throughout on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Benchmark 30-share Index (Sensex) started firm at 11,620.38 and later fluctuated irregularly in a range of 11,691.92 and 11,535.28 beforeending the day at 11,662.55 over Friday's close of 11,589.44, a net recovery of 73.11 points or 0.63 per cent.

Mutual funds and bulls, which were believed to be heavy buyers at the day's lower levels, countered FIIs move to pull out sizeable funds. FIIs reportedly made heavy net sales in the Cash and the futures on April 7.

Metal and Cement sectors attracted brisk activity and scored impressive advances.

Bulls seemed to be engaged in enlarging commitments in a number of counters, particularly metal and cement stocks, market players said. A strong rally in metal stocks to record gains on London Metal Exchange on April 7.

The market had suffered a setback of more than 157 points in a huge swing of 366 points following rumours of a ban by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (sebi) on FIIs.

Grasim, ACC, GACL, Tata Steel, Hindalco, Jindal Steel, and Sterlite Ind recorded hefty gains on heavy buying support.

Satyam Computer too hogged the limelight on news that the company would consider bonus issue in its board meeting to be held on April 21.