Wednesday, September 20 2006 17:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: In volatile trade, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex) today made a remarkable comeback from the initial hesitancy and rallied to end at 12,109.14, gaining a whopping 138.67 points over yesterday (Sept 20,2006) on heavy buying by foreign funds even though most of the Asian markets remained depressed.

The BSE 30-share Sensex opened weak at 11,946.32 as compared to the previous close of 11,970.47 and after swinging in a wide range between a high of 12,128.99 and low of 11,833.61, ended at 12,109.14, showing a remarkable rally of 138.67 points or 1.16 per cent over the previous close.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE) the S&P CNX Nifty gained by 45.45 points at 3,502.80 from 3,457.35 yesterday.

The depressed trend seen during the morning trade was due to weak Asian advices along with fall in crude oil. Later, on revival of heavy buying, mainly by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), prices turned sharply firm.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying spree and reportedly purchased shares worth Rs 4.95 billion on Monday after net inflows of Rs 1,444 crore in the last week.

They also injected Rs 174.31 crore yesterday in cash as per provisional figures while removing Rs 2.45 bn from derivatives on the same day.

Oil prices fell to six-month low of $61.66 per barrel in New York on Tuesday as softer-than-expected US economic data helped accelerate the recent sell off.