When Dalal Street partied even as Sensex fell 624 pts

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex crashed 624 points before ending 175 points higher to close at 7385.65, with State Bank of India scrip hitting a high of Rs 800 on Saturday.

Nothing shocking about the development since it was a mock trading session at the BSE to celebrate the bourse's 131st Foundation Day.

The mood at the Dinshaw Petit International Conventional Hall was one of excitement. Brokers from different generations gathered to celebrate the mock open out-cry trading session which provided a feel of olden days when the trading ring pulsated with action all day long.

Over 100 brokers participated in the mock trading session with buying and selling activity witnessed in frontline stocks such as ITC, HLL, Reliance and Infosys. Reliance (the darling of the traders and known as evergreen during the ring days) hit a high of Rs 650 and a low of Rs 500, while Infosys hit a high of Rs 2,680 and a low of Rs 1,900.

An exuberant Siddharth Shah, a BSE broker, at the end of the session said, "This reminds us of earlier days, when we use to have the trades executed in the ring. Everyone is feeling a high and such a large participation shows that people are still very emotional about the exchange."

Rajnikant Patel, ED and CEO, BSE, said, "The whole idea of open out-cry trading session was to bring the past and future together as the exchange wants to leverage its technological edge."

Meanwhile, the BSE also announced the launch of its new product, BSE MobiTrade, enabling its investors to trade through their mobiles.

BSE MobiTrade is way ahead and we want to keep ourselves abreast of latest technological changes and innovations, thus providing customers the best possible service, Patel said.