The Sensex opened on a strong note at 3134.68 points, touched the day's high at 3169.55, went to a low of 3133.01 and finished at 3167.22 points, showing a net gain of 83.66 points against the Friday's close of 3083.56 points. The S&P CNX Nifty also rose by 20.80 points to close at 920.50 against its previous close of 899.70. According to market participants, the market is set for a smart rally in the absence of any negative news.

``We expect the Sensex to move up and reach the next resistance level of 3,200 during the week. A negative factor if any would only result in a small correction in the index as the sentiment has turned very bullish and operators are in a mood to increase trading in the market,'' said Ajai Doshi, a BSEbroker.

According to provisional figures collated by NSE, FIIs were net sellers at Rs 18.88 crore with domestic institutions net buyers at Rs 6.28 crore. On the BSE, FIIs were net sellers at Rs 38 crore while the domestic institutions were net buyers at Rs 36 crore.

The week ended September 11 saw the annualised carry forward rates to firm up to 12.25 per cent against 10 per cent in the previous carry forward account on September 5. Besides, the net outstanding position rose from Rs 529 crore to Rs 575 crore, thus exhibiting a positive sentiment.

``The rise is also because there is no negative news over the weekend and Asian markets are calm today,'' said Chetan Shah, a BSE broker. The BSE declared pay-out today in respect of A, B1 and B2 group securities for settlement no 24, period ended sepetember 4. The total turnover on the BSE rose to Rs 1240.59 crore from Friday's turnover of Rs 1055.89 crore.

According to marketmen, FIIs made heavy purchases in counters like ITC, Bhel and Zee Telefilms. UTIwas reportedly selling in the index-based scrips. Commenting on the uptrend, market players also said that the market has exhibited uptrend probably because of higher badla rates.

``According to an overseas report, the benchmark 225-issue nikkei stock average in Tokyo rose 310.39 points, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was 0.48 per cent higher at 7,614.86 at midday and London and Newyork market also reported moderate gains, the report added. Thus, the Indian market showed a robust recovery,'' said the chief dealer at a foreign brokerage outfit.

Tobacco giant ITC topped the list by regisering highest turnover of Rs 252.61 crore, followed by Zee Telefilm Rs 151.81 crore, Satyam Computer Rs 149.02 crore, Reliance Rs 145.51 crore and SBI Rs 102.68 crore.

Other actively traded scrips were Pentafour Software at Rs 65.01 crore, Castrol India Rs 27.64 crore, Tata Tea Rs 24.85 crore, HLL Rs 18.41 crore. HLL gained Rs 14.50 to close at Rs 1692, Hindalco rose by Rs 36.25 to close at Rs 491.50 while ITCgained Rs 25.50 to close at Rs 695.50, NIIT gained Rs 12.50 to close at Rs 1311 and Zee telefilm gained smartly rose by Rs 48 to close at Rs 651.