Key benchmark indices were slightly higher in mid-afternoon after a solid comeback after US Federal Reserve and other central banks announce massive fund injections. They had witnessed a sell-off in opening trade. However trading was choppy. European bourses regained positive zone after subdued start. Turnover swelled spurred by series on bulk deals, topping Wednesdays, 17 September 2008, turnover of Rs 5,813.24 crore.

The Federal Reserve and the world's top central banks offered to pump billions of dollars into global money markets in a coordinated effort to ease a funding squeeze triggered by the upheaval on Wall Street.

The European Central Bank (ECB) today said it had joined forces with the Fed and central banks of Canada, Switzerland, Japan and Britain to improve liquidity in global financial markets. The ECB and the Bank of England said they would each offer up to $40 billion in overnight funds. The Fed said it would authorize $180 billion expansion of temporary foreign currency swap arrangements and Bank of Japan announced it would launch dollar-supply operations as part of the worldwide effort to tackle the dollar shortage.

Back home, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today, 18 September 2008, said more steps would be taken to provide liquidity if cash conditions were tight, adding global turmoil would partly impact credit availability in India. He also said public sector banks have virtually no exposure to the debt of Lehman Brothers, which filed for bankruptcy in the United States this week.

At 14:25 IST, the BSE 30-share Sensex was up 14.52 points or 0.11% to 13,277.42, also its days high. The Sensex opened with a huge downward gap of 550.08 points at 12,712.82. At the day's low of 12,558.14 hit in early trade, the Sensex lost 704.76 points.

The S&P; CNX Nifty rose 12.65 points or 0.32% to 4,020.90

European bourses regained positive zone after subdued start. Key benchmark indices in UK, Germany and France were up by between 0.30% and 1.29%. Asian markets, too, rebounded from early lows, but still were in the red today, 18 September 2008. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and were down by between 0.03% and 2.74%. Singapores Straits Times rose 0.32%.

Earlier in the day Asian authorities poured more cash into money markets today, 18 September 2008 and sprang to the defence of tumbling currencies, bonds and stocks to prevent upheaval on Wall Street from shattering regional confidence. In India, the central bank supplied banks with Rs 6240 crore ($1.35 billion), its biggest injection in at least a month.

Wall Street tumbled to a three-year low on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 as the Federal Reserve's rescue of insurer AIG failed to calm a crisis of confidence in global markets. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 449.36 points, or 4.06%, to 10,609.66. The S&P; 500 index slipped 57.21 points, or 4.71%, to 1,156.39, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 109.05 points, or 4.94%, to 2,098.85.

US crude oil prices jumped $6.01 to $97.16 a barrel, on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 as a US government report showed nationwide energy inventories fell in the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes and as the greenback slid against the euro.

Back home, the market breadth was extremely weak on BSE with 2069 shares declining as compared to just 453 that rose. 60 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5887 crore, with an hour of trading left boosted by series of bulk deals extecute don some stocks. S Kumar Nationwide tumbled 9.78% to Rs 54.40 on massive volumes of 1.33 crore shares. Two bulk deals of 36.21 lakh shares were struck on the counter at an average price of Rs 54.80 on BSE.

Bharti Airtel fell 5.19% to Rs 730.05 on 46.21 lakh shares. A block deal of 11.72 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 717 and a block deal of 16.91 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 725 on BSE..

KS Oils lost 4.77% to Rs 56.90 on 1.14 crore shares. A block deal of 20.13 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 53.50 on BSE.

Usha Beltron slipped 2.89% to Rs 60.40. A block deal of 53.79 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 60.20 on BSE. Lakshmi Overseas slipped 3.94% to Rs 275.80. A block deal of 25.56 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 275 on BSE. MIC Electronics rose 1.46% on 25.04 lakh shares. A block deal of 23.79 lakh shares was struck on the counter at Rs 99.85 on BSE.

Among the 30-member Sensex pack, 17 slipped while the rest gained.

Banking shares vaulted ahead of inflation data in the 12 months to 6 September 2008 due after market hours today, 18 September 2008. Indias largest state run bank in terms of net assets State Bank of India advanced 3.10% to Rs 1576, off days low of Rs 1435. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. As per recent reports, the bank paid 48% higher advance tax to Rs 1560 crore in Q2 September 2008 over Q2 September 2007.

Battered ICICI Bank also staged a comeback climbing 1.55% to Rs 569, off days low of Rs 518. India's largest private sector bank in terms of net profit on Wednesday, 17 September 2008 denied rumours of top management selling shares over the last few days.

The bank said on Tuesday, 16 September 2008, it held 57 million euros ($81 million) of senior bonds issued by Lehman Brothers, and would increase its provision on the debt by about $28 million to cover half of that exposure. Brokerage Edelweiss Capital said it expected ICICI to post about $200 million in losses on bonds, including debt issued by Lehman.

HDFC Bank, the countrys largest private sector bank in terms of net profit rose 1.57% to Rs 1203.10 after touching a low of Rs 1090.

Indias largest private sector firm in terms of market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose 1.78% to Rs 1907. The stock recovered sharply after hitting a 52-week low of Rs 1764 in opening trade. The company may reportedly start producing crude oil from its Krishna Godavari D6 block by this month end, while the gas production will start towards November-end. The initial oil output from the same block is estimated to be 10,000-15,000 barrels a day, which could be raised to 34,000 barrels with more wells.

Maruti Suzuki India (up 3.72% to Rs 725.55), ONGC (up 1.30% to Rs 992.10), and NTPC (up 2.52% to Rs 173.10), edged higher from Sensex pack.

Ranbaxy Laboratories, Indias top drug maker by sales slumped 8.20% to Rs 348 and was the top loser from Sensex pack. The US government has banned more than 30 generic drugs made by the company citing poor quality in two of its Indian factories.

Indias largest private sector steel maker by sales, Tata Steel was down 2.40% to Rs 463.0. It had touched a 52-week low of Rs 440 in intra-day trade. As per reports, the company paid lower advance tax to Rs 300 crore in Q2 September 2008 as compared to Rs 350 crore in Q2 September 2007. The BSE metal index plunged 3.55%, to 9,814.93.

Jaiprakash Associates (down 7.61% to Rs 126.20), Satyam Computer Services (down 4.22% to Rs 335) and Infosys (down 3.24% to Rs 1525) slipped.

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