Sensex snaps 7-day slide, ends 52 pts up

Sensex, which lost 704.76 points in opening trade, bounced back to close at 13,315.60 points.

The government reposing confidence in the health of public sector banks revived investors confidence in the stock market, whose benchmark index wiped away early losses to end 52 points up on Thursday.

The BSE 30-share index, Sensex, which lost 704.76 points to dip below the 13,000 mark in opening trade, bounced back to close at 13,315.60 points, up by 52.70 points, or 0.40 per cent.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty closed 29.90 points, or 0.75 per cent higher at 4,038.15.

Stock brokers said trading sentiments turned better towards the middle of the session following Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s statement that public sector banks would not be affected by the global financial storm, as they are not exposed to the US financial crisis.

They said expectations of a further fall in the inflation rate, to be released later today, also influenced the trading.

Among sectorial indices, Banking index ended 2.68 per cent higher at 6,769.63 points after country’s largest lender State Bank of India rose by Rs 32.70 to Rs 1,561.35, while the largest private sector lender ICICI Bank gained Rs 15.55 to Rs 575.85, HDFC Bank by Rs 37.60 to Rs 1,222 and Bank of Baorda by Rs 17.95 to Rs 327.35.

European markets opened firm and an initial weak trend was reversed in the Asian markets.