Dealers said though the market discounted the Pokharan tremors there was still uncertainty over the future of US demand. While the short-term futures moved slightly up, the fear of whether the US would impose trade sanctions against India to retaliate the nuke explosions pushed the long-term contracts further down. However, there was no panic prevailing in the market, they said.

"Rumour mills are churning out different versions of the impact of sanctions. The market is confused and nobody is ready to take risk," a dealer said.

What moved the market was a fear psychosis and unless the Government came out with a clear statement regarding the impact of the sanctions, the market was likely to remain in a fluid state, he added.

The inflow of fresh stock also increased during theweek.