Mumbai, Feb. 26: Disinvestment minister Arun Shourie’s pep talk helped the bourses rebound today, but only for a short while. A lack of follow-up buying saw key indices again closing in the negative territory on a day marked by extreme volatility.

The 30-share BSE sensex gyrated in a 167-point range during the day. Beginning firm at 5639.83, the sensex rallied to an intra-day high of 5723.31 on hectic buying by domestic financial institutions in the first half of the session.

This could not be sustained and the sensex dipped to an intra-day low of 5556.31, recovering to close at 5567.12, down 51.03 points from the previous day’s close.

Brokers said liquidity worries due to the ongoing issues continued to haunt the market, which saw rampant selling towards the close. Unwinding of long positions at the expiry of the February contract in futures and options also contributed to the fall.

Index-based shares like Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Bajaj Auto, Hindustan Lever, Tisco, Tata Motors and ACC suffered sharp losses. However, the BSE PSU index finished in the positive territory. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, whose public offer is being eagerly awaited, gained by around 5 per cent to Rs 701.50.