Sensex rebounds to prune early losses

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Thursday closed lower by more than 227 points, but managed to erase huge intra-day losses caused by negative cues from Asian and other markets.

The 30-share Sensex, which dipped by over 790 points to a more than 2-year low in intra-day trade, ended with a loss of 227.63 points at 10,581.49.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty declined by 69.10 points at 3,269.30.

The market remained weak following reports of more European governments offering blanket bank deposit guarantees, as regulators from Washington to Seoul scrambled to contain the fiancial crisis, brokers said.

Asian markets plummeted for the second day in a row, with key Japanese index Nikkei 225 reportedly falling over 11 per cent while Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng declined by 4.80 per cent to 15,230.20 points.

The marketmen added that a third cut of one per cent in cash reserve ratio by the Reserve Bank last night failed to influence trading sentiment this morning, as did lower inflation numbers released on Thursday.

However, later in the day, the market rebounded to prune early losses following reports of Europe emerging from lows and US stock futures indicating a higher opening.

The market recovered nearly 465 points during the day backed by surging realty, banking and FMCG stocks.

The realty sector gained the most rising 137.79 points at 2,813.26 followed by FMCG index by 32.43 points at 1902.51.

Banking index gained 25.16 points at 5866.76.