Although a much belated corrective rally has helped pivotals recover some of the lost ground, it would be premature at this stage to consider it as a definitive about-turn for the market. The vexatious issue of the IRA bill still hangs fire and in the event that any further dilution is pressed for before passing it, the fallout thereof on the FIIs and the stock market may not be positive.

Interestingly, the software stocks which were being sold all round by the FIIs as a profit-booking measure, are now apparently in vogue again with a fair amount of buying. Short-covering is on in Pentafour Software which had been hammered during the first half of `No-Delivery' period. Traders could consider taking up a long position at this counter. NIIT too has entered the `No Delivery' zone. Traders could consider undertaking continuous trades at this counter with the outer limits for buying and short selling this week being Rs 1440 and Rs 1505 respectively. Two other `No-delivery'scrips that merit consideration for short-selling by traders are Silverline at Rs 95 and Hoechst at Rs 430. Investors could consider adding Nestle back to their portfolio, and re-evaluating the investment worthiness of Dr Reddy's Labs.

(Ashok Kumar, Lotus Strategic Consultants)