And according to some brokers, the rising net outstandings is a cause for concern. The net outstanding went up by Rs 222 crore to Rs 3283 crore on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, while the BSE Sensex closed 25.54 points up at 5057.32 points, the S&P CNX Nifty closed at 1483.85 points, almost at Monday's level. On Tuesday, the Sensex opened marginally higher at 5034.81 points, hovered between 5076.94 and 5022.87 points and closed on a strong note at 5057.32 points.

Market players are expecting the bourses to open higher on Wednesday, the first day of a new settlement on the NSE. And a lot of hope is being pinned on the choice of the finance minister during the Wednesday's swearing in of the new government. According to Hanuman Bhatia at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, if Yashwant Sinha comes back as the FM, the market would surely greet the government's decision with jubilation.

However, a Rs 176 crore net FII outflow for Monday came as a surprise to almost all the dealers. And given the rising outstanding position, a correction later in the day is expected. Arun Kejriwal of Woodstock Securities expects the markets to open stronger though ``we will see a correction later'', he says.

Despite being the last day of the settlement on the NSE, most of the scrips showed strong undertone. In fact, a large number of stocks especially from the cement, bank and the software sectors witnessed huge buying interests across the board. As a result, the BSE Sensex showed a gain of 26 points. It closed at 5057.32 points as compared to Monday's close of 5031.78.

Cement stocks were the highlight of the day. It all started with ACC hitting the upper circuit, and remaining at that level during the second half of the day. Gujarat Ambuja Cement also hit the upper band on the BSE at Rs 572. An overall bullishness for the cement sector also reflected in prices of L&T, India Cements, Raymond and Kesoram all of which closed with substantial gains.

As for software the counters, selective counters maintained their uptrend. Among the specified list, stocks like Himachal Futuristic, Tata Elxsi, SSI, and Aptech were among the few to hit the upper circuit. Pentafour Software however hit the upper band during the second half of the day on both the exchanges. Other counters like Global Tele, Crest Communications, Silverline and Aftek Infosys also showed a strong close.

For the bank sector, the re-rating process was on. Most of the bank stocks remained in limelight especially the side counters like Corporation Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, and Oriental Bank of Commerce. SBI too witnessed strong buying interest. However, during the close of the session, some of the bank stocks had to shed some of the gains made during the opening sessions.

Among the Pharma sector, Glaxo, Wockhardt, Orchid Chemicals, Lupin Labs, and Morepen Lab, recorded impressive gains. Among the other counters, Finolex Cables, McDowell, Reliance Petro, and Castrol showed a positive close.

with inputs from Deepak Singh Tanwar