The sell-off in the worldwide financial services stocks with disastrous impact on the market, following the crises at Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch shook the Indian bourses too during the week resulting in the benchmark Sensex to fall down. 
 
Lots of stocks hit their lows because of the sharp fall. Around 250 companies hit their 52-week lows on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Washington - The US government is submitting a finance rescue package to Congress that is valued at 700 to 800 billion dollars, media reports said Saturday.

In the largest intervention in capital markets since the 1930s, the administration of US President George W Bush Friday proposed to mop up bad mortgage debt with its first system-wide attack on turmoil in the finance industry that threatens the nation with economic collapse.

Washington  - The US government is submitting a finance rescue package to Congress that is valued at 700 to 800 billion dollars, media reports said Saturday.

In the largest intervention in capital markets since the 1930s, the administration of US President George W Bush Friday proposed to mop up bad mortgage debt with its first system-wide attack on turmoil in the finance industry that threatens the nation with economic collapse.

Berlin - Chancellor Angela Merkel revived on Saturday Germany's campaign of a year ago for global regulation of financial markets to prevent another crash like the past week's.

In an interview with a Munich newspaper, the Muenchner Merkur, she criticized the US and British governments for obstructing Germany's efforts in the first half of 2007 to bring greater transparency to the markets.

The domestic benchmark indices surged over 5% on Friday (Sep 19) as foreign institutional investors (FIIS) turned net buyers after a week of huge selling pressure, tracking reaction in the worldwide markets that saw a complete turnaround from the previous day.

Brokers said that the majority of buying was seen in the index stocks.

The BSE Sensex, which opened positively at 13,763.83, up 448.23 points, on encouraging global cues, remained strong all through the day.

The 30-share index, BSE Sensex ended the week on a cheerful note on Friday (Sep 19). It crossed the 14,000 mark on the back of sustained buying interest witnessed across the board. 

Realty, IT, power and banking stocks led the rally. Midcap and smallcap stocks also rose all through the day. 

The bulls showed their intent during the second half after the finance minister P Chidambaram stated that Indian banking institutions were greatly insulated from the outcomes of global turmoil and that there was no cause for any alarm.

The wholesale price index (inflation) that climbed up to 12.14 percent, as compared to 12.10 percent during the last week, failed to depress the market reaction.