While these heavy weights declined, the rise in a few other symbolic scrips reflects the underlying buoyancy in the current market. ICICI went up by 5.17 per cent on Monday. It was but natural considering that the company had declared a 55 per cent dividend for fiscal 1998 against 45 per cent in the previous year. The dividend yield itself ensures a basic return already and any further rise would be a bonus. BSES went up by 1.91 per cent. Similarly, Indian Hotel improved by 2.04 per cent. There were also quite a few scrips outside the Sensex family which went up substantially. Vikas WSP (7.93per cent), Yokagoa Blue (7.94 pet cent), Zodiac Cloth (7.89 per cent), Sab Night (7.71 per cent), Blue Dart (7.99 per cent) are some of these, which show that the Sensex hovering around the bottom is no restrain.

The Sensex is again heading towards taking support on the downsloping trend line in the weekly charts. It had earlier taken support here around August 29 and earlier January 28. On the daily charts, too, the Sensex is floating above the trend support line. The support is at 2850, which the index touched today in intra day.

At BHEL with Rs 225 and Rs 205 as next supports on a longer span, it might be worth accumulating this on declines now. HPCL, too, calls for a similar approach. Pharma stocks reacted today.

Software stocks saw some volatility, but are holding their bottom line. One should look for opportunity to get on to these scrips on both these categories, as they have the potential for reward, once the Sensex bounces from the bottom.