This is the fifth straight session when the Sensex has risen on buyingsupport from speculators as well as the FIIs.

FIIs, who had been consistent net buyers to the tune of Rs 985 crore duringthe last five sessions till May 30, are believed to have made freshpurchases in new economy stocks like Satyam Computers, Infosys Tech, SSILtd, Global Tele, Aptech, Himachal Futur and NIIT. Domestic institutions toopicked up shares of select IT counters in small quantity.

At the end of the day, however, market players were skeptical of the rallybeing sustained in the next two days. ``There's already some profit-bookingthat we witnessed during the day,'' says a broker. Since the rally wasmainly led by software stocks driven by Nasdaq's smart rise last night it isdifficult to see a further upward movement. ``Sellers will certainly step inat these levels. For one, people would want to book profits after fivestraight sessions of gains. And the other factor is that many investorswould want to exit from technology stocks at higher levels,'' adds a dealerat a brokerage.

Trading volumes on BSE improved to Rs 3,213 crore against Rs 3,022 crorerecorded yesterday. On the other hand, S&P CNX Nifty gained 32.95 points toclose at 1378 after hitting the high and low of 1410.75 and 1355.35 pointsrespectively.

However, marginal profit booking was witnessed at the day's higher levels insoftware counters. Meanwhile, cement and refinery stocks came under strongselling pressure, and showed a negative close. Meanwhile, advances stood at1012, and the number of declines was at 452. Around 118 stocks remainedunchanged. The top five traded scrips in the A group were Himachal at Rs 326crore, Satyam at Rs 279 crore, Global Tele at Rs 273 crore, Reliance at Rs252 crore and Infosys at Rs 247 crore. The top five traded scrips for B1group were DSQ Software, Rolta, Hughes Soft, HCL Tech and VSNL.