The signing of the WTO agreement, which provided the much needed patent protection to the MNC pharma companies, reflected on the sharp recovery made at these counters. Among the major gainers were Parke Davis which shot up by 7.19 per cent to close at Rs 306, Pfizer shot up by 6.22 per cent to at Rs 660, Novartis appreciated by 4.97 per cent to Rs 564.95. Emerck, German Remedies, Burroughs Welcome, Fulford and Boots appreciated by over 4 per cent on an average, with a substantial rise in trading volumes.

FIIs sold heavily on the local bourses. Figures released by BSE and NSEon the institutional transactions were rather unnerving. While FIIs sold stocks worth Rs 65 crore on both the exchanges, domestic institutions were reported to have purchased stocks worth Rs 1.5 crore.

According to market sources, Credit Lyonnais, DSP Merrill Lynch and Kleinworth Dresdsner were reported to have sold huge chunks of ITC, SBI and HLL. ITC was hammered by 2.93 per cent to a low of Rs 656, HLL was down by 1.88 per cent to close at Rs 1,645 and SBI closed at Rs 197.

Info-tech stocks also registered substantial price appreciation on account of select institutional purchases at the lower end. Satyam Computers, Pentafour Software and Zee Telefilms contributed about 40 per cent of the turnover on the exchange.

Pentafour Software shot up by 4 per cent to close at Rs 616, while Satyam Computers moved up smartly to close at Rs 515.50 registering a gain of 1.65 per cent.

After a correction of over Rs 50 during the past two trading sessions, Zee Telefilms once again shot up. The stock closed at Rs696 with a phenomenal volume of over 40 lakh shares exchanging hands on the local bourses.

Interestingly, at the kerb market, the stock once again shot up to Rs 700.50 at 4 pm, further to a high of Rs 707 at 7.15 pm, reflective of the huge long positions being built at the counter.A ccording to BSe brokers, a few deals at even Rs 715 were also reported on teh ZEE counter.

BFL Software also shot up by 8 per cent to be locked at the upper end of the price band at Rs 524.75 with a huge volume of 4.25 lakh shares. Birla group stocks continued their upward march for the second consecutive day, with Century Enka and Century Textiles hitting the upper end of the price band at Rs 48.05 and Rs 39.55 respectively. Interestingly, VSNL lost 6.62 per cent to close at Rs 775 in a single trade, with a small volume of only 100 shares.