The Sensex opened at 3,197.90 points, touched the day's high of 3,249.42 and finally closed at 3,208.54 points. The Nifty Index gained 23.65 points to close at 932.15 points. NSE recorded a total turnover of Rs 928.06 crore.The market shot up by 100 points in the morning itself on the back of aggressive buying by FIIs in infotech stocks. The early rally across bourses was led by the renewed interest in software stocks. "Also, the market expected relaxation from Sebi on the ban on short sales, and the news of buy-back of shares led the market northwards," said Kailash Biyani, managing director, Asian MarketsSecurities.

"Even when there is an upswing in the market the FIIs will still sell as they will sell and book profits at every opportunity. The FIIs are moving out of the whole of Asia looking to the weak prospects on offer. India is the only lucrative destination so far," said Prashant Sethi, fund manager at IDBI Mutual Fund.

Infotech stocks like Pentafour Software, Digital, DSQ Software and BFL Software hit circuit filters at higher levels. Pentafour Software closed at Rs 487.50 as against its previous close of Rs 443.25. DSQ Software traded in the range of Rs 189 to Rs 192.80. Infosys moved up marginally to close at Rs 2,281.50 against its previous close of Rs 2,278. According to market sources, there was some FII selling at this counter.

Pharma stocks also attracted some buying, especially scrips like Glaxo, German Remedies and Pfizer. Pfizer moved in the range of Rs 524 to Rs 549. Other counters which were strong during the day included HDFC, ICICI, Zee Telefilms, ITC, Nestle and SBI. MNC stockslike HLL and Colgate-Palmolive also attracted some buying interest. Zee Telefilms hit the circuit filter on the higher level at Rs 350 following news of an increase in the FII investment limit to 30 per cent. "Although the FIIs have neither been aggressive sellers nor buyers on the Indian bourses over the past few sessions, the market has been swinging on the back of speculators. There are no long-term players in the market these days which has left the room only for speculators to play around," said Ajay S Doshi, a BSE broker.

FIIs were net buyers on the NSE with net investment at Rs 20.47 crore. On the BSE, net FII investment was to the tune of Rs 13 crore. Local institutions and funds bought shares worth Rs 14 crore on the BSE. However, they were net sellers on the NSE at Rs 5.98 crore.

Pivotals firm up on kerb

SEBI's announcement to lift the ban on short sales helped pivotals firm up on the kerb market. In the absence of any news from Sebi till 4.30 pm, pivotals continued to receive weakerquotes, which saw Reliance and ITC quote at Rs 144 and Rs 645 respectively. However, once the announcement reached the markets, the stocks firmed up once again to trade at a marginal premium of less than 1 per cent. At 9 pm, ITC was quoting at Rs 647 against its official close of Rs 646.50. Reliance was trading at Rs 146.50 (Rs 145.30) and SBI at Rs 210 (Rs 209.40).