Market players expect the market to remain range-bound till the Kargil problem is solved. And for the Sensex, the downside is limited to 4050 points.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex opened marginally higher at 4174.61 points against Tuesday's close of 4170.83 points. However, during the day the index went down gradually to 4121.39 points but closed higher at 4140.73 points-- a net loss of 30.10 points.

``Despite some institutional selling today, the market is holding and this is a positive sign. Most of the time on Wednesday, the market did not go below the 4130level while it did not rise above the 4155 level. The market will remain range bound but the index will not go below the 4000-level,'' said the chief dealer of a leading brokerage.

In the first half-an-hour, operators were believed to have taken positions at some key counters in anticipation of buying by foreign funds and UTI to prop up their NAVs. However, these positions were squared off towards the end of the trading sessions when buying failed to emerge. ``Nobody wants to carry-forward or take fresh positions,'' said a market participant.

The S&P CNX Nifty on the National Stock Exchange, on the other hand, also opened at marginally lower at 1191.45 points and touched the day's high at 1193.90 points. It closed with a net loss of 3.60 points to 1187.70 points against its Tuesday close of 1191.30 points.

On Wednesday, all the pivotals went down marginally from their respective Tuesday closes. The index heavyweight HLL was down Rs 19 to 2380, ITC was down Rs 10 to Rs 1095, SBI was down Rs 3.50 to Rs237. Only Reliance was up marginally to Rs 176.70 from its Tuesday close of Rs 176.25.

Also most of the software and the pharma stocks lost from their prevoius closes. Software major Infosys was down Rs 60 to Rs 3625, Satyam by Rs 15 to Rs 1268 and NIIT by Rs 52 to Rs 2033. Pentafour, however, gained marginally to close at Rs 1140 against its Tuesday close of Rs 1132.

Among the pharma counters, the Smithkline Pharma scrip, which was on the upper circuit on Tuesday, lost Rs 11.70 to close at Rs 394. Among the other pharma scrips, Ranbaxy lost Rs 12 to Rs 654 and Novartis Rs 5 to Rs 892.

According to market participants, the market is more-or-less stagnant although big orders from FIIs are pending with brokerage houses. ``India is currently one of the most favoured destinations in Asia but FIIs are waiting for Kargil to clear out,'' said a dealer with a local brokerage.

While pivotals have remained lacklustre and have faced profit-booking at higher levels, buying has now spread to medium-cap stocks insectors like fertiliser available at attractive valuations.