Among the index scrips, ACC demonstrated its firmness by closing a shade higher. Its intra-day profile too showed an improvement. The nervousness in the market was reflected in Bajaj Auto dipping to a low of Rs 478, but closed on a firm note at Rs 486, posting a gain of Rs 2 over the previous day.

A similar kind of a behaviour was noticed in Bhel as well. It dipped to Rs 230, but closed firm at Rs 237 with a gain of Rs 3, day over day. But it was BSES which signalled the changing of the tenor of the market to one of firmness. Despite technical vulnerability, the scrip closed higher, after an excellent intra-day performance.

Castrol, Colgate, HLL and Gujarat Ambuja continued to be weak. Indian Hotel established one more day of finding its feet. Infosys is inching up. ITC was firmer, but the intra-day volatility was high. Thescrip closed a shade higher.

All these scrips reflect the market behaviour. Traders are cautious. But certainly they do not seem to be scared. There is no bearish fear. This can be seen in the firm positioning of Larsen & Toubro and Mahindra & Mahindra inching higher. MTNL has turned robust. Nestle suffered a deep fall. NIIT is still hesitant.

The slide in Novartis has come to a halt. Pharma scrips continue to be depressed. Reliance's robust recovery was indeed a welcome breeze, as indeed that of IPCL. Bank scrips are going nowhere. And financial institution scrips are at the bottom but their repeated attempts to move up have not proved to be successful so far.

Telco seems to have readied to fight back! Tata Steel is certainly not bearish, though how far it can move up is to be seen. Sensex is still below its trigger line.