Led by the domestic software major, Infosys, the infotech counters witnessed another day of hectic buying. Not to be left far behind in the rally were pharma and the auto counters. Pentafour and Satyam, with turnovers of Rs 333.86 crore and Rs 234.17 crore, respectively, topped the turnover chart on BSE. On the turnover table of NSE, the two IT spearheads just exchanged positions with Satyam at Rs 295.36 crore and Pentafour at Rs 279.20 crore.

However, Tuesday being the last day of the current tradingcycle on the National Stock Exchnage, the markets saw an intra-day fluctuation of around 70 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) closed with a net gain of 44.64 points to 4254.86 points against its Monday close of 4210.36 points. On the National Stock Exchange, the S&P CNX Nifty gained 12 points to close at 1214.30 points against its previuos close of 1202.30.

However, market players are eagerly awaiting a correction of 50-100 points after which the Sensex can resume its march to the 4700-level. ``A big leap by the Sensex is preceded by a small correction,'' said a BSE broker. The market circles expect the correction to take place on Wednesday itself. According to one city-based broker, ``Wednesday is the D-day. If a correction takes place, we would see the Sensex breaching the 4700-level in a couple of trading sessions. Otherwise, at the maximum, we would see the index at 4400.''

On Tuesday, the Sensex opened higher at 4236.01, went up to a high of 4274.30, then touched a low of4204.73 and closed at 4254.86. The Nifty, on the other hand, opened slightly higher at 1202.95 and closed at 1214.30. In between, it touched a high of 1219.45 and a low of 1201.20 points.

Infosys, after its 8 per cent (Rs 246) gain on Monday, gained another Rs 143.65 on Tuesday to closed at Rs 3470. During the day, it also touched a high of Rs 3511 on BSE. NIIT, the software education major, after gaining 6 per cent on Monday, hit the upper circuit on BSE at Rs 1894.85 and closed at the same level. The Pentafour counter also witnessed some hectic buying but brokers attribute it to short covering by operators. However, the Satyam counter was subdued after the high action it witnessed on Monday.

Pharma stocks were also up on the back of a price hike declared by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) with almost all the pharme counters witnessing buying by operators and institutions.

Among the auto scrips, the Telco counter witnessed some institutional orders being executed and Ashok Leylandwas up on improved sales figure for May. M&M, on the other hand, was up on the expectation of good demand for tractors as the monsoon is on a normal track.

Telecom major, MTNL, VSNL and Concor were also up. According to one analyst, as the Nasdaq listings for MTNL and VSNL are on, the two companies are slowly adopting international accounting practices. This is an `investment positive' for the institutions who are re-rating these companies.

On the GDR front, during the mid-session on Tuesday, the Skindia GDR Index, the benchmark for the Indian GDRs, was marginally down by 0.07 per cent at 820.40 points against its 4.59 per cent rise on Monday. With a rise of 16.96 per cent over its Monday close, the Indo Gulf GDR was the top gainer followed by Indian Rayon with a rise of 10.53 per cent. Telco, Ashok Leyland and Century Textiles were the other prominent gainers in the lot. SAIL, however, was the top loser after its 10 per cent gain on Monday.