MARKET CLOSING ON SEPTEMBER 16

Frenzied buying in index pivotals coupled with short covering

afterfive straight days of fall helped key benchmark indices erase

sharpearly losses and post marginal gains in highly choppy session.

Higher Dow & Nasdaq futures and crude oil at 7-month low boosted

the sentiment. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rebounded

sharply from52-week low. State Bank of India (SBI) advanced over

7%. HoweverICICI bank cracked over 5% on high volumes. Crude oil

prices plunged to a seven-month low as turmoil in the USfinancial

system heightened concerns energy demand may slow. USlight crude

for October 2008 delivery fell $3.02 to $92.69 a barrelyesterday,

15 September 2008. Financial turmoil in global markets triggered by

fears of the stateof the US financial system kept Indian bourses depressed

for priorfive straight trading sessions. US investment bank Lehman

Brothersfiled for bankruptcy, American insurer AIG struggled for

survivaland Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America. US markets

collapsed on Monday, 15 September 2008 falling the mostsince 11 September

2001 as investors worried about the impact ofthe latest twists in the credit

crisis on the economy and theoutlook for profits. The Dow Jones Industrial

Average plunged504.48 points, or 4.42%, to 10,917.51, the Nasdaq

Composite indexdropped 81.36 points, or 3.60%, to 2,179.91 and the

Standard &Poor's 500 index fell 59 points, or 4.71% to 1,192.70.

European markets which opened after Indian markets were subdued.

Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were down bybetween

0.37% and 1.54%. Asian markets were trading weak today, 16September

2008 as fears of a global financial crisis grippedinvestors across Asia. Key

benchmark indices in China, Japan, HongKong, Taiwan, Singapore, and

South Korea were down by between 1.01%and 6.10%. The BSE 30-share

Sensex rose 19.40 points or 0.14% to 13,550.67 asper provisional closing.

The Sensex opened with a downward gap of479.54 at 13,051.73, also its

day's low. At the day's high of13,556.03 hit in late trade, the Sensex rose

24.31 points. The S&P CNX Nifty rose 11.60 points or 0.28% to 4,084.50

as perprovisional closing. Nifty recovered from a low of 3919.35. At theday's

low, Nifty had lost 153.55. The market breadth was weak on BSE with 1725

shares declining ascompared to 928 that rose. 71 remained unchanged.