Mumbai, February 13
The markets snapped the five-day long losing streak with benchmark Sensex posting a smart, over 340 points gain even as the crisis-ridden global financial markets breathed a little easier after reports of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's $800-billion offer to US bonds.

Marketmen said there were indications of stability in the global markets after billionaire investor Warren Buffett offered to reinsure $800 billion of US municipal bond risk from top three bond insurers. The offer had a soothing effect on the burning issue of credit crisis fallout.

Snapping a five-day long losing streak, the 30-share BSE barometer ended the day at 16,949.14, a gain of 341.13 points, or 2.05 per cent, over its previous close.

The Sensex had lost 2,055.15 points, or 11.01 per cent, in the last five days.

Meanwhile, Reliance Power, latest entrant in the market from the Anil Ambani group, continued its downslide for the third day in a row with its scrip registering a loss of almost Rs 100 a share from the issue price of Rs 450.

Reliance Power shares settled at Rs 350.15 a share at the NSE, registering a loss of 1.21 per cent or Rs 4.50 per share from the previous close.

The stock had seen a fall of over 17 per cent from the offer price on Monday, which was followed by another decline of about five per cent yesterday. At the BSE, the performance was relatively better with a fall of 0.89 per cent of Rs 3.15 a share in today’s trade with the shares closing at Rs 351.40. — Agencies