Our Bureau

Mumbai , Jan. 17

THE bourses witnessed an extremely choppy trading session today and though the benchmark indices closed in the green, it was after a day of sudden swings.

The markets opened marginally strong but slipped into the red soon after. Buying frenzy after 2:30 p.m. resulted in the indices zooming up and the Sensex closing with a gain of 20.25 points.

Intra-day volatility resulted in the Sensex losing 86.27 points and subsequently gaining 145 points. The 30-stock benchmark index ended Monday's trade at 6,194.07, a gain of 0.33 per cent.

The Nifty fell to a low of 1,902.45, marginally above the crucial technical support of 1,900. The index clawed back to close at 1,932.9, with nearly 1 per cent gain from Friday's close.

Volumes were fairly high today with the BSE recording transactions of 18.97 crore shares worth Rs 1,925 crore and 33.64 crore shares worth Rs 4,611 crore being traded at the NSE.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 116 crore on Friday and the market sentiment took a U-turn for the positive on learning this.

Brokers also point out that at 6,100-level of the Sensex, the market sees value.

"If you analyse the last several days when the markets have fallen, they have always recovered once they hit the 6,100-level. This is because valuations become very attractive at this level," said Mr Mitesh Shah, a BSE broker.

Analysts see the market moving with very sharp twists and turns, until the announcement of Finance Bill of 2005-06. The current volatility in the market is largely due to the lack of any significant triggers — positive or negative.

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