The rise in Nasdaq by 325 points Wednesday night led the bullish sentiment in the market with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex opening sharply higher by over 120 points with index heavy weights Infosys, Satyam Computers, Zee Telefilms being the prime movers. However, the sharp rise in prices in the morning could not be sustained as profit-taking by domestic institutions led to fall in the stock prices. Dealers said, while FIIs were seen to be active buyers in the new economy counters, domestic institutions - Unit Trust of India (UTI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)- sold heavily.

FIIs have been net buyers in the market this year and in the first four days they made net investment of Rs 681 crore. Taking cue from the overnight rise in Nasdaq, BSE Sensex opened sharply higher at 4180.97 points, which happened to be the days highest level, touched a low of 4109.55 and ended the day at 4115.37, a rise of 55.35 points over Wednesday. At National Stock Exchange (NSE), S&P CNX Nifty closed 16.4 points higher at 1307 points. "New economy stocks had taken a severe beating in the last 10 days and the rise was mainly a technical correction. In addition the rise in Nasdaq added to the rise," said Arun Kejrival of Nikko Shares and Stock Brokers.

In the major gainers list, Satyam Computers was up 11.98 per cent at Rs 356, Infosys closed above the Rs 6,000 mark at Rs 6,097 (up 8.41 per cent), Wipro up 10.1 per cent at Rs 2,653.45, HFCL closed at Rs 1,348 (up 7.61 per cent), Global Telesystem at Rs 818.6 (up 5.23 per cent). Other gainers from the new economy included HCL Technologies, DSQ SOftware, Digital Equipments. But there were no takers for the old economy stock except Hindustan Lever, which gained 4.26 per cent at Rs 210.45 and Telco (up 2.85 per cent).