Mirroring meltdown in global markets, the Sensex opened with a huge negative gap of 445 points at 13,086, and soon touched a low of 13,052. The index, thereafter, steadied and exhibited rangebound movement till noon deals.
Renewed buying interest in select heavyweights like SBI and Reliance helped the index recoup losses in the latter half of the trading day. Aggressive buying coupled with short-covering saw the index rebound into the positive zone at the fag end of the day.
The Sensex touched a high of 13,556 - a gain of 504 points from the day's low - and finally settled with a marginal gain of 19 points at 13,551. In the process, the index today broke its five days' losing streak wherein the index had shed 9.5% (1,414 points).