Bears which had a virtual home run on the marketsmade a hasty retreat while frenzied bulls primed for action in a vengeance. With bulls taking the centrestage and ruling the trading rings, retail investors saw smiles back on their faces.
There being no let in buying spree on the bourses as if there was no tomorrow, and frontline stocks being most coveted of buys, saw the popular 30-share Sensex at Bombay Stock Exchange breaching 16,000 mark on Tuesday. The market breadth was strong with all the sectoral indices on BSE ending higher.
With buoyancy the currency not only on the home front but also virtually across the global sphere, even the mid-cap and small-cap stocks too have sallied forth to surge ahead in full steam. 
Brisk buying
Mirroring the merry mood and soaring sentiment on the markets, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 928.09 points or 6.07 per cent to close at 16,217.49 points, which is its second biggest single-day rally in points as well as percentage terms. The index gained 972.98 points at session's high of 16,262.38, hit at the fag end of the trade.  On BSE, it was aggressive buying across-the-board and it was best reflected in the fact that no index-related stocks posted losses and all sectoral indices posted gains. Brokers said this mirrors the all-round optimism and bodes well for the markets. Marketmen said a surprise increase in sales of US pre-owned housing data indicated that the worst of the housing slump might be a thing of past now and it lifted the investor sentiments which led to a rally in the Wall Street on Monday.
Likewise, it was the same story with the broader CNX S&P Nifty at National Stock Exchange too spurting 267.65 points or 5.81 per cent to close at 4877.50. Nifty March 2008 futures were at 4901.50, at a premium of 24 points as compared to spot closing of 4877.50.
On global front, the rally was triggered by JP Morgan raising Bear Stearns acquisition price by 5 times and US economic data that showed US new home sales had risen 3 per cent in February 2008.
In Europe, key indices in UK, France and Germany were up by 2.80 per centr to 3.25 per cent. Most of Asian indices rallied as well. China’s Shanghai Composite, which declined more than 1 per cent earlier, recovered sharply as session progressed. It ended up 0.09 per cent. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan were up by 1.19 per cent to 5.88 per cent.
With the day’s trade, the Sensex has gained 9.50 per cent or 1408 points since its recent low of 14809.49 on 17 March 2008. The strong rebound on domestic bourses is commendable coming in the backdrop of a recent steep fall. However, some concern remains whether the day’s huge rally was an aberration and more a sort of short covering by traders.  With this rally, has the market bottomed out? None is wiser on the score. According to National Stock Exchange data, overseas funds bought equity derivatives worth Rs 1,800 crore ($448 million) on March 24 and made purchases of Rs 1,900 on March 19.
Concerns of marked-to-market losses for firms on their foreign exchange derivatives exposure, meltdown in global markets, lower-than-expected industrial production data for January 2008 and a surge in inflation created havoc on the bourses recently.
The BSE Mid-Cap index outperformed the Sensex, rising 6.36 per cent to 6,174.49 and BSE Small-Cap index underperformed the Sensex, rising 4.81 per cent to 7,284.64.  The market breadth was strong. On BSE, 2,075 stocks advanced, 640 declined and 47 stocks were unchanged.  It clocked a turnover of Rs 6,836 crore as against Rs 4,682.75 on the previous day.
The broad-based BSE-100 index galloped by 495.68 points to 8,438.27 from previous close of 7,942.59. The BSE-200 index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply higher at 1,968.36 and 816.42 at close compared to last close of 1,853.28 and 764.87 respectively. The BSE-500 index also improved by 362.26 points to 6,221.98 from 5,859.72 and the Dollex-30 ended remarkably up at 3,317.03 from 3,111.69 previously. The NSE’s futures & options (F&O) segment turnover was Rs 66,627.57 crore, which was higher than Rs 42610.26 crore on Monday, 24 March 2008.