Earlier in the day, led by Reliance, the BSE-30 share Sensitive index breached the psychological barrier of 3,000 points to touch an intra-day's high of 3,010.84 points. In the final countdown, the index rebounded from the day's low of 2,944.06 to close at 3,009.57, registering a net gain of 33.4 points.

Reliance once again shot into the limelight on rumours of a huge negotiated deal struck with UTI and that the company would buy-back its shares at a premium to the current market price. According to market sources, at about 2.45 pm market was rife with rumours that the company has closed a negotiated dealwith UTI at a price of Rs 145, a premium of over Rs 20 to the prevailing market price.

Interestingly, while the stock was traded at a weighted average price of Rs 121.39 on the NSE and Rs 121.26 on the BSE, the stock shot up during the last phase to touch an intra-day's high of Rs 127.50 on the NSE, registering a gain of over 6 per cent. Over 3 crore shares exchanged hands on the local bourses.

Similarly a sharp jump was registered at the counter of ITC during the last half an hour of trading. While the stock was traded at a weighted average price of Rs 731.29, till 2.30 pm, it shot up to close at Rs 739, a gain of Rs 12.

Market was agog with rumours that a leading FII brokerage firm has once again received a mandate for the purchase of over 4-7 lakh shares of Reliance. FIIs purchases were reported at the counters of ICICI banking, Castrol, ICICI, Philips and Ramco. Proving all market rumours wrong, the institutional figures released by the two exchanges i.e., BSE and NSE dampened the spirits of marketparticipants. While on the BSE, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2 crore, the domestic institutions were net sellers to the extent of Rs 2 crore. However, on the NSE, the FIIs were net sellers to the tune of Rs 13 crore.