Thursday, August 24 2006 18:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: Bolstered by a sharp rise in the scrip of top heavyweight and petro-chem giant Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), the Bombay Stock Exchange bellwether Sensex not only snapped a two-day losing streak but flared up by a whopping 125 points to close at 11,531.95 on fresh bouts of buying.

Dealers attributed the initial weakness to negative global advices, but later foreign funds, who were consistent sellers in derivatives for the last few days and slowed down their activities in cash, turned heavy buyers in blue chip counters which turned the table in favour of bull operators.

The 30 share sensitive index (Sensex) opened with a downside gap at 11,367.74 points as against Wednesday's close of 11,406.65 and immediately touched a low of 11,297.23 points.

Later, emergence of buying in refinery, metal and auto stocks lifted the Sensex to the day's high of 11,566.89, before concluding at 11,531.95 points, a sharp rise of 125.30 points or 1.10 per cent.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty also spurted by 34.60 points or 1.04 per cent close at 3,370.40 from previous close of 3,335.80.

Meanwhile, on the Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped by about 42 points and 15 points respectively last night, while most of the Asian markets also displayed a weak trend at close today.

World oil prices plummeted below US$ 72 a barrel on news of a surprise increase in US gasoline reserves and calls by Iran for talks to resolve its nuclear standoff, impacting positively on refinery and auto counters.