NIIT and Hindalco were the two scrips which helped the indices from going down. Also HLL and SBI, both of which went up marginally, to some extent held the indices to their previous levels. Total turnover on the exchnage also remained at the earlier level of around Rs 1100 crore.

On Thursday, the Bombay Stock Exchnage Sensitive Index closed marginally higher by 3.79 points to 4144.52 points. Against its Wednesday close of 4140.73, the Sensex opened higher at 4156.62 and went up to a high of 4186.35 points. Market players attributed the initial rise to the upward revision of GDPestimates to 6 per cent for the earlier 5.8 per cent. However, after the rise during the openning hours on Thursday, the Sensex gradually came down to touch a low of 4120.73 points and higher at 4144.52 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange, on the other hand, closed 4.50 points lower to 1183.20 points. The Nifty opened at 1187.85, touched a high of 1197 points during the day and a low of 1179.30 points.

The market is desparate for some good news and also wants the Kargil problem to end soon. According to Rajiv Choksey of Kisanlal Ratilal Choksey, ``The market looks steady, but in the absence of any fresh purchases by the institutions, the market can not go up.'' The market is pinning hopes on a quick solution to the border problem. ``I personally believe that the war will end by this week or latest, next week and then, we will see a 8 per cent freeze in index,'' said Neel Dalal, a BSE broker.

NIIT was the star performer of the day with the scrip hitting the upper circuit on BSEat Rs 2195.60 and closed at the same level-- a net gain of Rs 162.60. The software education major has decided to hike the fee for all its computer training courses by 13 to 16 per cent. This, market players expect, would directly add up to the company's bottomline from the next quarter onwards.

Hindalco, on the other hand, was up after the company decided to shelve its greenfield projects in Orissa. Also there were rumours of the company mulling a bonus issue. On Thursday, the scrip, after touching a high of Rs 676, closed at Rs 655, a net gain of Rs 27 over its Wednesday close of Rs 628.