But, no sooner did the electronic voting machine displayed 256 ayes, 263 noes and one abstention, the bears ran amok and yoked the raging bulls.

Thereafter, it was a virtual mayhem with the BSE losing 6.88 per cent and the NSE 7.41 per cent. The final tally that emerged because of the changed political scene saw the 30-share BSE Sensitive Index being shaved off 245.93 points to close the day at 3,326.98 points.

The scene at the National Stock Exchange was even more gloomy. The S&P CNX Nifty shed 77.5 points to close at 966.95 points. The Nifty was almost 7.94 per cent down with over 48 stocks hitting the lower end of the price filter. However short-covering towards the fag-end of the session saw the index recover marginally.

Similarly, on the BSE ofthe 30 index-based stocks, about 27 stocks were locked on the lower limit of the price band, contributing to the 6.8 per cent loss. It may be recalled that a similar situation was witnessed on the NSE on Friday when the index after registering a historic gain of 7.8 per cent closed marginally lower. It was a complete reversal of both sentiment and index, said brokers. The BSE recorded its fifth historic and second biggest fall after March 31, 1997. The index had also crashed when the Congress withdrew its support to the Gujral government.

"The unprecedented wild swing of 414 points reflects nation's concern for stability, uncertainty of market-oriented budget proposals," said BSE broker Ajit Sanghvi. The roller-coaster ride registered by the Sensex was contributed by several heavyweight stocks like Satyam Computers, Pentafour Software, HDFC, ITC, Reliance and Hindustan Lever. Several pharma and FMCG stocks were also hammered down by domestic operators. Several blue-chip counters like Britannia, Bajaj Auto,Infosys Technologies and ACC witnessed a steep fall. It may be recalled that most of these stocks witnessed a huge backwardation charges on Friday which resulted in considerable short-covering towards the closing session on Saturday. On Saturday, the trading session was divided into two phases one between 10 am and 1 pm when the index rallied in the band of 3,622 to 3,709.55 points and the second phase where the index fell from its recent peak to a low of 3,295 points.

According to market sources, FIIs once again preferred to act contrarian to the market tide. They were reported to have purchased stocks worth Rs 80 crore. While DSP Merrill Lynch was said to have picked up huge chunks of Infosys Technologies, ITC, SBI, Bajaj Auto and Pentafour, Jardine Fleming has received mandate of over Rs 100 crore to be invested in the Indian markets. WI Carr was reportedly a buyer at the counter of Hindalco. UTI was rumoured to have picked huge chunks of NIIT and Pentafour for its newly floated IT specific fund. Theworst is over, according to BSE broker Neel Dalal. "The index has made a bottom at 3,295 levels, " said Dalal, emphasising that the renewed buying interest which emerged at the Reliance counter was a reflection of a turnaround in the market sentiments. The turnaround registered at the Reliance counter from a low of Rs 216 to Rs 222 and the pending buy order of 41,500 shares at the post-closing session of the BSE, according to brokers was a sign of recovery.