Monday was the day of software, banking and, to some extent, cement stocks. The bullish sentiment resulted in a number of scrips from these sectors hitting the upper circuit and the overall advance-decline ratio turned out to be 3.2:1. The NSE market cap jumped by a whopping Rs 15,928 crore to Rs 7,64,084 crore from Friday's 7,48,156 crore. And taking the cue from the strong domestic market, the GDR market was also firm during the mid-session. The benchmark Skindia GDR Index was up 3.41 per cent to 1043.47.

Monday's strong closing in the IT, banking and cement counters, along with a surge in net FII inflow for Friday, has given a lot of reason for market players to expect a higher opening on Tuesday. However, the sustenance of a rally would depend much on the Sensex braeching the 4925 level in the next two days. ``If the market can sustain above the 4925 level, we are likely to see a bull run thereafter,'' said Hiten Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services.

However, the sudden spurt in stocks also calls for a word of caution for the investors, feel brokers. ``With the software stocks trading at dizzy highs, the investors should be on the guard for there could be some surprises in store,'' says Anbaressh Baliga at Kotak Securities.

However, a lot of movement was visible in non-index software stocks like Pentafour, Silverline, Global Tele, Himachal Futuristic, Polaris and Hughes. Reflecting a broadbase rally, even on the penultimate day of the current settlement on the NSE, while the Nifty Junior closed 4.77 per cent up (a net gain of 151.10 points), the CNX Midcap 200 closed 3.59 per cent (36.60 points) up. Compared to these indices, the gain in the Nifty was only 1.75 per cent.

However, amongst the non-index scrips hitting the upper circuit, NIIT, an index-based stock, was the exception which also hit the upper circuit on the BSE.

The Sensex opened at 4785.06, also the day's low, and remained firm throughout the day. Before closing at 4836.28 points, it had touched a peak of 4842.34 points. On Friday, the index had closed at 4714.14 points. On the other hand, the S&P CNX Nifty on the NSE closed 24.85 points higher at 1442.85.

The Sensex opened at 4785.06, also the day's low, and remained firm throughout the day. Before closing at 4836.28 points, it had touched a peak of 4842.34 points. On Friday, the index had closed at 4714.14 points.The Nifty, on the penultimate day of trading in the current settlement, opened at 1418.30, hovered between 1445.60 and 1418.30, and closed at 1442.85 points against its Friday closing at 1418 points.

However, with a gain of three per cent, Hindustan Lever provided the highest contribution. An upper circuit on NIIT counter also provided some help. MNTL too made its impact with a gain of 8 per cent. Reliance, SBI, and L&T also helped.

Besides the software sector, bank and cement stocks too were in great demand. ACC hit the upper circuit, and the impact was also felt on L&T, Gujarat Ambuja, Kesoram, India Cement, and Jaiprakash Industries. Renewed interest in cement stocks resulted from the latest despatch data showing 13 per cent rise during November.

Among the banking sector, smart gains were recorded by Corporation Bank, HDFC Bank, Oriental Bank, Times Bank, and Bank of Baroda.

-with inputs from Deepak Singh Tanwar