Mirroring the institutional interest, stocks like Lumax, Laxmi Auto, Nippon Denro, Motherson Sumi, Sona Steering, Paper Products, ITC Bhadra and TNPL were locked on the NSE at the upper end of their price bands.

Satyam Computers, ITC and Zee Tele continued to hog the limelight, contributing over 40 per cent of the BSE's turnover which touched a high of Rs 1,227 crore.

However, turnover from the B1 and B2 stocks was only Rs 40 crore, reflective of the speculative interest in select software scrips. Speculators continued their activities at the Zee Telefilm counter for the third consecutive day. According to market sources, a leading Calcutta based broker was rumoured to have bought huge chunks of Zee at Rs 660 on the BSE. After being hammered at the kerb, the stock rallied in the bandof Rs 651.25 and Rs 680 the intra-day's low and high respectively to finally close at Rs 671.75 on the BSE,a net decline of 2 per cent. On the NSE, the stock closed at Rs 674, a loss of 1.38 per cent. Volumes also fell by over 20 per cent with 24.16 lakh shares exchanging hands on the BSE.

According to sources, a leading FII brokerage was rumoured to have bought huge chunks of Reliance. FII buying was also reported at the counters of SBI, ITC and EIH by Schrodders, Morgan Stanley, Templeton and Capital International. FIIs were reported to have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 11.7 crore but local institutions were net sellers to the tune of Rs 9.5 crore.

While pharma stocks continued to portray a mixed trend, stocks like Burroughs Wellcome and Arbindo Pharma registered smart recovery.

Interestingly, Burroughs touched a high of Rs 500 while Glaxo was down at Rs 427 on the NSE. An interesting feature of the day's session was the erratic price movement witnessed at the counter of VST Industries. Duringthe first phase of the session, the stock flared up by 8 per cent to be locked on the upper end of the price band at Rs 188.60 but was hammered to Rs 161 on account of huge bouts of sales pressed at the higher levels.