Taking a cue, the Nifty too gained 56 points to close at 1613 points. In the its Tuesday low last four trading sessions, the Sensex has gained more than 750 points, from of 4691.

Given the current positives for the market, the Sensex seems to be heading towards the 5700-mark. But the low volumes in the counters are not making everybody feel good.

According to market players, after last Tuesday's massive fall, the last four sessions' continuous rise has helped bring back the feel-good factor.

The Securities & Exchange Board of India's (Sebi) foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) investment figures for Friday show a massive inflow of Rs 439 crore ($100.7 million). Brokers say this is going to drive the sentiment of the market when it opens for trading on Tuesday.

The year-end results too have started coming in. ``Since the companies which have performed well come out with results first, the market is poised to remain firm on expectations of good results,'' said a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) broker. According to the broker, this time around, presence of more technology stocks in the Sensex would help it reflect the market's mood more than ever.

According to Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services' Hanuman Bhatia, technically, the market can go up by another 300 points.

However, not everybody is equally enthused and positive about the market. ``In a liquidity-driven market, it is not ratioanl to predict the index's movement,'' said HDFC Bank's Abhay Aima. ``Anytime, the market's mood might change,'' he added. On Monday, the turnover on the BSE was Rs 1,898.44 crore-almost Rs 300 crore more than that of Friday's Rs 1,607 crore-but way off its average of Rs 3,000 crore. The low volumes in the counters are mainly attributed to the large number of scrips hitting the upper circuit, and remaining there till the end of trading.

With a turnover of Rs 574.77 crore, Reliance topped the table on the BSE, with the State Bank of India (SBI) (Rs 193.08 crore), ITC (Rs 105.05 crore), and ACC (Rs 82.72 crore) following in that order. These stocks did not hit upper circuit.

But it was due to a smart rally on the Nasdaq on Friday night that for the third consecutive day, the software sector remained in the limelight. Almost all the top software stocks, like Infosys, Wipro, Satyam Computers, Digital Equipment, and Pentamedia, opened at the upper circuit, and remained there throughout the day.

The sentiment was bullish for the software stocks, and more than 90 per cent hit the upper circuit. Except a brief selling pressure in the last half-an-hour, pivotals, like Reliance, SBI, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, and Bhel, remained strong for a major part of the day.

The Sensex opened at 5481.49 points, and touched a peak of 5532.54 points. The low for the day was 5435.35 points. For the Nifty, the day's high and low were 1636.95 and 1557.55 respectively. On the BSE, the number of advnaces stood at 1,313, declines at 531, and 109 stocks remained unchanged.

The stocks which hit the upper circuit were: Infosys, Wipro, HFCL, Global Tele, Pentamedia, SSI, Silverline, Rolta, DSQ Software, Digital Equipment, Aptech, HCL Infosystems, Satyam Computers, Tata Elxsi, HCL Technologies, Polaris, Kale Consultants, Ranbaxy, Grasim, Apollo Tyres, BPL, MTNL, McDowell, UPL, BSES, BEML, Bharat Forge, Escorts, Wockhardt, Sun Pharma, Sesa Goa, Aftek Info, Alok Textile, Jupiter Orga, Rel Capital, Birla Eric, Surana Tele, Essel Packaging, Sterlite, and Veronica Lab.

The other gainers for the day were: L&T, Cipla, Dr Reddy's, ICICI, Siemens, Ashok Leyland, ATN International, Ipca Lab, Peerless Shipping, Jindal Photo, Onward Techno, Supreme Petro, Whirlpool, Deepak Fert, Nilkamal Plastic, Soffia Soft, Cummins, and Vysya Bank.

Stocks like Fujitsu, Odessey Techno, Mobile Tele, BEML, Salora International, Penta Capsule, Geekay Exim, Geep Ind, Recon, and Geojit Sec hit the lower circuit. The other losers for the day were: IDBI, Tata Power, Bombay Dyeing, Kesoram, Core Health, Exide, Bhartiya International, Fulford, Tata Hydro, and Transpek.