And for Thursday, market players feel that trading is likely to remain lacklustre until the institutions decide to enter the market in a big way - either buy or sell.

According to Ambareesh Baliga at Kotak Securities, after Tuesday's massive rally, ``Lack of follow-up support on Wednesday led to selling in the market.'' However, there were buying in select IT counters, led by Satyam.On Wednesday, the Sensex opened at 4523.63 points, and moved up to 4536.20 points initially. However, before noon, it hit a low of 4382.95 points, and by the end of the day, closed at 4456.15 points, showing a net fall of 35.41 points.

While Infosys and NIIT provided some cushion to the market, stocks like Reliance, SBI, and Tisco made a marginal dent. Infosys and NIIT have shown a jump of over four per cent. At the same time, ITC, and HLL remained unchaged. However, among the pivotals, Reliance, Tisco, SBI, and Ranbaxy showed a substantial fall.

Among software stocks, Satyam was the first to hit the upper circuit. Along with Satyam, counters like Aptech, Tata Elxsi, BFL Software, Himachal Futuristic, Wipro and Visualsoft showed impressive gains. At the same time, software stocks like Digital Equipment, HCL, Silverline, and Pentafour remained depressed for a major part of the day.

Among cement stocks, ACC hit the lower circuit. Larsen also felt the impact, but recovered during the second half of the day. MTNL and Telco also witnessed huge buying during the second half of the day. In the specified list, stocks like Hindalco, Wockhardt, Escorts, Mcdowell, and Reliance Petro showed handsome gains. At the same time, stocks like Tisco, Sail, Sterlite, United Phosphorus, Cipla, Glaxo, M&M, Century, and Kesoram showed a significant fall.

Meanwhile, from the non-specified list, VJIL, Boss Industries, Engineers India, Max India, Birla Errication, Lee&Nee Software, Ram Info, S.Kumar and Siyaram showed handsome gains.