A strong relief rally in markets around the globe helped the BSE sensex reverse its six-session losing streak on Wednesday with a 507 points gain at 15,912. In addition, assurances by the finance minister that the government-backed stimulus packages will not be withdrawn also helped improve sentiment on Dalal Street, brokers and dealers said. In late session, hectic buying by speculators who had sold earlier in the session (short covering) too helped sensex close near the days high.

After a flat close in the US markets on Tuesday night, most Asian markets rallied on Wednesday morning. The Indian market followed with the sensex opening about 80 points higher and rallied through the day to an intra-day high at 15,929. It finally settled just a tad off with an gain of 3.3%, its biggest single-session gain in nearly four months. The days highlight was a strong rally in Reliance Industries, a sensex heavyweight that ended 5.5% higher at Rs 1,921. With the days rally, the stock reversed most of Tuesdays 5.7% loss.

The gains came despite a setback to the RIL-RNRL case in the Supreme Court where one of the judges in the division bench hearing the case withdrew because his daughter worked for a lay firm that advised RIL from time to time. The bench will be reconstituted and RIL will re-present its case to the reconstituted bench. In a statement RIL said it regretted that six sessions of the court were lost.

The days 500-plus points rally in the sensex came on the back of some support from the institutions. While FIIs had a net buying figure of Rs 234 crore, the corresponding figure for domestic institutions was Rs 557 crore.

Despite the days rally that came after the sensex had lost about 2,100 points in 10 previous sessions, chartists fear there could be some more slide before the benchmark indices find a base. Some technical analysts feel the nifty, which closed at 4,711, could find some support around the 4,350 level. Among the sensex stocks, the best performers were those which were hammered the most on Tuesday.

While Jaiprakash Associates was up 9.4% at Rs 213, Hindalco gained 9.2% at Rs 119 and DLF ended 8.5% higher at Rs 365. While 27 of the 30 sensex stocks ended higher, in the broader market, there were 1,774 advances to 946 declines.