The highlight of the day's trading was the rally in software stocks, led by Infosys which breached the Rs 5000 barrier. Infosys ADR also crossed the $100-mark at NASDAQ and closed at $ 98 after touching a high of $110 on Thursday. On the BSE, the stock hit a high of Rs 5147 before closing at Rs 5110.

``The technical correction has taken place and the market is expected to show some strength next week,'' said Rajiv Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Services. ``The market should consolidate atcurrent levels and from a new bottom,'' added Ambareesh Baliga at Kotak Securities.

``When the markets open on Monday, the banking stocks may see a rally as Moody's is likely to re-rate the country and the banking sector in the next two days. This should give a new lease of life to the sector,'' said the vice president of Khandwala Securities, VVLN Sastry.

While Digital Equipment hit the circuit on rumours of a big order, Satyam Computers also exhausted the 8 per cent limit on rumours of an ADR issue. ``The Digital scrip shot up from Rs 450 to Rs 486 in half-an-hour. There were rumours abound that Satyam Computers has filed for an ADR issue while another rumour was that of an ADR from Satyam Infoway,'' said a market dealer.

Some of the other counters which attrcated buying interest were MTNL and Ranbaxy. The latter closed at an all-time high of Rs 777 on the NSE. Marketmen point out that there has been considerable instittuional interest at the MTNL counter with over 2 crore shares being traded on theBSE in the last three trading sessions. The HPCL counter was also firm with rumours of a 1:1 bonus.

``The focus has shifted to software and pharma stocks as investors have been booking profits in commodity stocks as results of the latter are beginning to come in,'' said Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C Mehta Invest Intermediaries. ``It is a liquidity driven market and the correction of around 170 points from the high of 4810 is over. We might see the market go past the 4810 level,'' he added.