Given the fact that the markets remained bullish even on the last day of the current settlement on NSE, ``it seems the long positions in the market are at manageable levels,'' says Rajiv Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services. The markets opened higher with the Sensex at 4586.49 - a gap of 28.26 points over its Monday close of 4558.23. It touched the day's low at 4575.99, then as the buying picked up it touched the day's high at 4621.29 and closed almost at the same level. The Nifty, on the other hand, opened at1310.30, almost at Monday's closing level and touched the day's high at 1327.90. However, being the last day of the current settlement, the selling pressure built up to take the index to close at 1322.70. HLL, after a long phase of lacklustre trading, was in the limelight again on Tuesday with the scrip closing at Rs 2605 on BSE. Infotech counters also extended good support to the market. Infosys continued with its northward journey on the bourses and after touching the day's high at Rs 5666, closed at Rs 5606. And after going ex-bonus on BSE, the Pentafour scrip is again on the ascent. The scrip closed its Tuesday trading at almost the circuit level of Rs 665, thus showing a net gain of Rs 46 over its Monday closing. According to dealers, a lot of buying activity is taking place in the side counters and a number of them are regularly hitting the circuits.

According to Sampat, since ``a number of these scrips are currently in the no-delivey period, operators are feeling quite comfortable to build positionsin these scrips.'' However, according to Neel B Dalal, a BSE broker, the increased activities in the side counters indicate that the retail investors are concentrating in these counters too.

On Tuesday, some of the side counters which were either on the circuit or were near that on BSE are Himachal Futuristics, Videocon Intl, Grasim, Jayprakash Industries, Tata Infotech, Sterlite, Shree Adhikary Brothers, Torrent Pharma and McDowell.

Market players expect the current bullish sentiment to continue on Wednesday also. ``Wednesday being the first day of the next settlement on NSE, we can expect some good buying to come in which will keep the markets firm,'' said Sampat. And now that the psychological 4,600-level has been crossed, market players are looking at a Sensex level upward of 4700. ``4616 was a breakout for the Sensex, and with this level being breached on Tuesday, we are looking at a Sensex level of 4750,'' say Dalal. Also, according to Dalal, the current advance-decline ratio of 3:1- by number ofscrips and also by volume- is an extremely bullish sign. ``Even when the Sensex had touched the 4810 level last month, the advance-decline ratio was only 2:1,'' says Dalal.

However, continuous FII investment outflow during the last couple of days is a cause for concern in the market. Given that the net outflow on Monday was at Rs 39 crore, ``We are expecting the Sensex to open higher with a gap of 30-40 points but close lower than Tuesday's close,'' says Chirag Sangvi at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries.