The strategy appears to be chalked out very well taking care of every twist and turns the market would take. What has been kept out is the typical aggressive posture of being big buyers or panic sellers backed by sheer financial power. When the guns are booming on the borders, FIIs have set aside their muscle power. They have ensured that the market does not move one way -- no panic, no overjoy.

Money power has given way to astute skills tracking the market operators and the news from the borders almost minute by minute. When negative news filters in the operators jump out, but FIIs seem to have kept their cool.

Consider this: Tuesday's fall of 49 points would have us believe that FIIs were sellers.But they pumped in Rs 41.5 crore. In fact, from June 11 to June 15, the Sensex fell steadily by about 70 points. During these days FIIs invested over Rs 80 crore.

Ever since the break out of the conflict with Pakistan on May 25, FIIs have been playing a contrarion game. In a market where operators play a crucial role, it pays to be a contrarion; both for the health of the market and the FIIs. On May 31 the Sensex took a big leap of 190 points from a low of 3773. That day the FIIs were happy selling their stocks. In the next two days too they were net sellers, with the market still hovering in the 3900-plus range.

Clearly, operators and FIIs have been moving in different directions. This partly explains the sharp intra-day volatility witnessed over the last 20 sessions or so. On the flip side, short-sellers were kept at bay.

But what does Wednesday's 120-point jump mean? Will FIIs again make a short-exit or will they bring back their dollar bags? A billion dollar question. Keep guessing.