The market opened on a modest note at 4692, some 13 points lower than Friday's closing of 4705. It could move up just 6 points to post an intra day high of 4698. This was distinctly lower than the previous high of 4762, almost by 64 points. At the first outset, this would seem rather a steep fall. But consider this.

Infosys Technologies has been posting new highs last week on the back of expectation about the face value being reduced to Re 1 or Re 2. From Rs 8200 level to Rs 9750, the scrip had gained almost 20 per cent. Profit- taking was naturally to be expected. ITC has not been able to move beyond the Rs 796 post, and has been going down with no takers. This is another heavyweight that pulled Sensex down.

ITC has the potential to go down some more. HPCL after rising from Rs 180 to Rs 245 was also ripe for profit-booking. Itdid not matter if it was a Monday! Reliance Industries' upmove has been aborted and it is back to the base line of Rs 222. The previous low has been Rs 214. But volumes have not gone up here. On the other hand, State Bank is mildly bullish and could build strength. Castrol is bullish.

While a handful of heavy weights will decide the direction of Sensex, it is interesting to see that BSE 500 is distinctly bullish. The number of advances at BSE has gone up from 932 to 1189, the number of declines have gone down from 957 to 720. However, at NSE, the number of advances have gone down from 543 to 445 and the number of declines have gone up from 518 to 662. This is natural considering the week end at NSE on Tuesday.

Ultimately, the market is at a stage, where you need to play the market by individual scrips than by the index. Index, if anything is supportive.