The Sensex opened on an optimistic note at 30007, which was 14 points higher than the previous close. It also moved up impressively to 3040, a whopping gain of 43 points over the previous high of 2997. This undercurrent of strength was retained in the day's low at 2975. The previous low was lower at 2959. The market closed with the Sensex at its lowest at 2975, which should be noted carefully.

In other words, while players played up the values during intra-day, they decided not to stake much in the market as reflected by the Sensex not making any recovery from the day's low.

This approach is also amply clear from the advance-decline volumes. At NSE, the advance volume has come down to Rs 478 crore from Rs 1032 crore. On the other hand, the volume in decline has multiplied close to six times from Rs 175 crore on Tuesday to Rs 944 crore. One needs to note carefully that Thursday was the first day for the new NSE week. Such high tilt towards decline in volumes does indicate that players are not willing to commit themselves at the price prevalent, as a whole. For all one knows, short selling could also have emerged.

At the BSE, the volume in advance has shrunk to less than one-fourth-from Rs 968 crore (on Tuesday) to Rs 195 crore. On the other hand, volume in decline has shot up from Rs 52 crore to Rs 873 crore!

It is only Bajaj Auto, MTNL, HPCL, BSES, Tata Power and Mahindra & Mahindra that has saved the Sensex from moving down further. However, these saviours have themselves been rising consistently in the last few sessions, that one would not be surprised to see profit booking here on Friday. A majority of scrips have seen unusual dips and therefore could have become attractive.This coupled with week-end consideration could see much volatility and high risk on Friday.