On Monday, on the back of a strong rally in almost all the frontline stocks, the Sensex opened with an upward gap and went close to the 4900-mark - at 4885 - the day's high. However, it shed a few points on profit booking and closed 4837, a net gain of 72.57 points over its previous close of 4764.67. The S&P CNX Nifty on the other hand, gained 21.45 points to close at 1498.75.

Market players feel there is enough strength in the market to push the Sensex beyond the 5000-mark in the medium-term. Although, a small correction is expected on Wednesday, but that will actually strengthen the market.

According toAmbareesh Baliga at Kotak Securities, ``The underlying strength is definitely bullish, but we expect a small correction to come around the 4950 level or even earlier. But that will actually give the rally more strength and take it to higher levels thereafter.''

According to dealers, a number of technology stocks have given a good break-out. Also the Sensex is showing strong trend in the medium-term. Additionally, Sebi's FII investment figures for Friday shows a positive inflow to the tune of Rs 141 crore. ``Going by the recent spate of FII selling, this is a good turnaround by the foreign investors,'' said an institutional dealer. Additionally, Sebi's mutual fund transaction figures show a positive trend for the last three trading sessions, after returning negative figures since the beginning of the month.

As a result of sustained buying, especially in the software segment, a large number of these stocks hit the upper circuit. Pentamedia and Zee Tele hit the upper circuit of 12 per cent. However, duringthe last half an hour, profit booking took place in several counters.

While software counters remained firm, the buying interest was also strong in pivotals. Stocks like ITC, HLL, L&T, ACC, Bhel, SBI and Ranbaxy attracted huge investment buying, and showed a positive close. Aided by good allround buying, combined turnover on the two premier exchanges touched a 3-month high. It stood at Rs 4864 crore on the BSE, while the corresponding figure on the NSE was Rs 6420 crore.

The Sensex opened at 4808.25 points, touched a peak of 4884.89 points and closed at 4841.02 points. The low for the day was 4788.94 points. On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty gained 21.45 points to close at 1498.75 points. While the high for the day was 1510.45 points, the low was 1477.55 points.

On the BSE, the number of advances stood at 970 whereas the number of declines stood at 539. 104 stocks remained unchanged.

Stocks which gained more than 7.9 per cent were Zee Tele, Silverline, Pentamedia, Raymond, HCL Info, BEL, Crest Com, GujGas, Shyam Tele, Thermax, Hinduja Finance, Nat Radio, Actom, Reckitt Col, Tata Finance, Penta Com, Sri Adhikari, Frontier Info. Other gainers for the day were Wipro, Rolta, BPL, Tata Power, Siemens, Sun Pharma, Finolex Cable, PSI Data, Titan, Adam Comsoft, CMC, Centuria Bank. At the same time, stocks which dipped more than 7.9 per cent were Bombay Dyeing, Vans Info, Alps Info, Kanoria Chem, Mascon Global, Multi Arc.

Tech turnover zooms
Technology stocks are back with a bang. On Monday, the new economy stocks on the BSE accounted for more than 80 per cent of the total turnover on the bourse. At Rs 4922 crore, the turnover on the BSE was one of the highest in the recent months. Of this, the technology stocks accounted for more than Rs 3900 crore. Of this, ICE stocks from group A accounted for Rs 3575 crore, the balance coming from group B1 and group B2 stocks. On Monday, the combined turnover on the two leading exchanges was the highest in the last three months.