For most part of the day, the bourses remained firm, witnessing some selling pressure during the closing hours. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index opened at 4605.07 against its Friday close of 4575.30 and touched the day's high at 4659.66 before closing a shade lower at 4639.20, a net gain of 63.90 points over its previous close. The S&P CNX Nifty, on the other hand, closed with a net gain of 10.95 points at 1327.75 points. The NSENifty opened the day at 1316.90 points, the high and the low, respectively, were 1332.90 and 1312.80.

On Friday, for the second consecutive day the net FII investment was at a negative Rs 94 crore. According to market players, it is important to keep a watch on FII investment trends for the next few days. ``In case FII investments continue to be negative for the next couple of days, one should be sceptical about the markets. Selectively, auto, cement and the IT counters should do well and we can see some stagnancy about the FMCG and the pharma stocks,'' says Rajiv Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services.

For Tuesday, ``the market is expected to remain selectively strong with activities limited to a select stocks,'' says Nikunj Modi at Kisan Ratilal Choksey Shares & Securities.

According to market players, at the current levels, cement, auto and a few of the software stocks look good. On Monday, Telco was on the upper circuit on both the exchanges. Escorts, Bajaj Auto and TVS Suzuki were firmon both the bourses and had either hit the circuit or were close to it. Along with the auto stocks, auto ancillary stocks- SKF Bearings, Apollo Tyres and Ceat Tyres also attracted good buying interest.

Among the cement counters, ACC, L&T, Gujarat Ambuja and Madras Cement witnessed good buying activity. At the current moment, even the second rung cement stocks like Prism Cement and Priya Cement are looking attractive.While Infosys was slightly weak, Satyam and Pentafour witnessed selling in their counters. According to brokers, some profit booking was witnessed in Satyam on account of it going ex-bonus, on NSE, from Wednesday. Digital, on the other hand, touched its all-time high of at Rs 748 but closed lower at Rs 710.

Among the second rung infotech stocks, Rolta and Silverline have also hit the upper circuit during the first half of the day but declined later on. HCL Infosys also showed a gain over its previous day's close. Global Tele and KLG Systel was also at the upper circuit. The other counterswhich also hit the upper circuit were Escorts, Apollo Tyres, Philips, and Peerless Shipping.

Market players also point to a select few stocks which are expected to do well during the next few days. ``At the current level, every fall would be an opportunity for the investors to enter into the FMCG scrips for long-term investments,'' says Sampat. According to some other dealers, Sterlite, Britannia, Colgate-Palmolive, Hero Honda and Tisco also look good.