Prices of several scrips had advanced well in the last few sessions. In fact, the game of local bulls and retail buyers had started paying off when FIIs ultimately returned with buy orders. This game has been spoiled and a game for bears have been enabled, so it seems.

Yesterday I had mentioned that the slide might stop at 4846 and not really go down all the way to 4806. Well, call it a bear attack, reduction of positions in advance or profit booking, scrips nose dived to shed sizeable fat for a day. It is difficult in the light of new restrictions as to how much more bears can maul.

Technically speaking the index could take a support at 4826 (Wednesday's close 4824). There is potential for shortselling in select scrips. Investors in such scrips where there has been a runaway rise would do well to book their profits. However, there are several scrips which still look strong. These are Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) , Hindalco, Glaxo, ITC, HPCL, NIIT, Burroughs Welcome, Bharat Petrol, Indo Gulf, Castrol and Bajaj Auto. In such scrips one can afford to hold on. One cannot rule out the possibility of Sensex dropping further. But if it does over the next two sessions, short list your buys and price levels and get in once again at low levels. Be prepared for high volatility. Hold on to the scrips mentioned above and look for opportunities to get in lower at other scrips, which you should start short-listing now for buying over the next three sessions.