Also the scrips going into the compulsory demat mode from next Monday on theBSE closed higher. While the BSE Sensex closed 52.21 points higher at4636.31 points and the S&P CNX Nifty on the NSE closed the day at 1374.65,netting a gain of 12.80 points over its Friday close.

Taking its lead from the rally on the Nasdaq on Friday, the Infosys scriphere breached the Rs 9,000-mark at the opening itself and touched the day'shigh at Rs 9,230 on the BSE. Finally it closed at Rs 9,190, a gain of Rs 500over its Friday close of Rs 8,690. The turnover in the counter on the BSEwas at Rs 153.58 crore from 1.68 lakh shares. On the NSE, after touching anew high of Rs 9,285, the stock closed at Rs 9,195- a net gain of Rs 475 --with 1.52 lakh shares changing hands.

Other than Infosys, the Hughes Software scrip was also very strong on thebourses. The scrip attaining `higher tops-higher bottoms' almost throughoutthe day's session on both the bourse, the scrip closed near its day's highon both the bourses. On the NSE, the scrip closed at Rs 1,442 compared toits previous close of Rs 1,366.

According to brokers, Monday's trading was mainly stock-specific with a lotof action, apart from the IT counters, coming into the operators counterstoo, which entered into no-delivery period on the BSE on Monday for goinginto the compulsory demat mode from next Monday. ``We can see that today'strading was more operators driven than fundamental based. Except the threemajor IT counters -- Infosys, Hughes and Satyam -- most of the other stockswhich went up substantially were the stocks which are going into thecompulsory demat mode from November 29,'' said Chirag Sanghvi at Asit CMehta Investment Intermediaries.

According to another dealer with a domestic broking house, the fact that theNifty went up substantially on the last day of the current settlement on theNSE also points to operators' activity on the bourse. ``Since the whole oflast week was more-or-less lacklustre, there was some amount of shortcovering on the NSE,'' said the dealer. Apart from the three IT stocks,Silverline, Lupin Laboratories, Citicorp Securities, DSQ Software andSiemens was also strong on the BSE on Monday.

For Wednesday's trading, brokers feel that the market should remain in thetrading zone.``For Wednesday, I think that the market should remain in thetrading zone. Technically, it can enter into a bull phase only if the Sensexcloses above the 4720 mark,'' said Sanghvi.