Interestingly, while the Asian markets registered sharp recovery, the Indian markets remained insulated from such positive waves. In an otherwise dull trading, a bomb hoax at the Bombay Stock Exchange unnerved the administrative set up. A phone call around 11.45 am saw the entire exchange come to a stand still although the trading session continued without any disturbance.

Short covering was restricted to select index based counters which mirrored on the movement of stocks like Bhel, ITC, SBI, Reliance and Larsen. While speculative activity was concentrated at the counters of Zee Telefilms, SatyamComputers and BHEL, market was agog with rumours that leading FIIs like Jardine Broking and DSP Merrill Lynch had pressed distress sales at the counters of HPCL, BPCL and Gujarat Ambuja.

FIIs sold stocks worth Rs 23 crore on the NSE, and bought stocks worth Rs 10.93 crore. Local institutions, on the other hand, were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1.98 crore. The buying interest in the second line software counters continued which witnessed sharp recovery of over 7 per cent on an average. Software stocks like Rolta India, Orient Info, HCL Infosys, Silverline and Blue Star were locked at the upper end of the price band on the local bourses. Pharma and MNC stocks also continued their upward stride.