According to dealers, Friday's panic selling has resulted in a substantialdecrease in net outstanding position which in turn is expected to keep thebadla rates lower for this Saturday. Also this is likely to give somestability to the markets. According to Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C MehtaInvestment Intermediaries, at the current levels, the market looks good asthe outstanding positions are lower. ``Also the market sentiment is expectedto remain good ahead of Clinton's visit,'' said Sanghvi.

According to another dealer with a domestic broking house, commodity andeconomy stocks are at levels which are a bargain hunter's delight. ``So Iexpect some buying to commemnce in these counters from Monday.''

In addition, the Rs 184 crore net FII inflow for Thursday is also a positivesignal for the market. ``After remaining on the sidelines and primarilychurning their portfolis since the budget was placed, it seems the FIIs areagain entering the market to buy,'' said a BSE broker.

Unloading by speculators especially in software stocks badly affected thesentiment on Friday. In the absence of sufficient buying on one hand, andcontinous selling on the other had its impact on the sentiment throughoutthe day.

Volatility was at its peak as Infosys, the main index driver, opened weak,and then hit the upper circuit during the mid-session. However, as panicselling gripped other software stocks, Infosys also came under sellingpressure. At the close, it was marginally down. NIIT too hit the uppercircuit but closed just four per cent higher compared to previous close. Itwas ITC which provided a major support to the Sensex. During the last halfan hour, it hit the upper circuit. HLL also provided some help by closingover one per cent from Thursday's close.

The performance of other index-based counters was far from impressive.Reliance, SBI, L&T and Bhel showed a sharp dip.

Mirroring the sentiment, the sensex opened at 5384.42 points, touched a highof 5478.97 points. Before closing at 5301.78 points, it touched a low of5197.72 points, showing a net fall of 27 points.

Similarily, Nifty also showed a drop of 38 points, and closed at 1608.65points. The low for the day was 1588.20 whereas the high for the day was1680.45 points.

The trading volume remained at reasonable levels. While turnover on the BSEstood at Rs 4879 crore, on the NSE it was Rs 4603 crore.

ITC, Cipla, VSNL, Nestle, Dr Reddy, Wordwide Tele, TV 18, Usha Beltron, M&M,Tanu Leafin, Jupiter Orga, TVS Electronics, Cadbury, Atco, Fujitsu, KnollPharma, Ingersoll Rand, Century Enka, Krebs Bio, Epic Enzymes, Vorin Lab,and Citicorp hit the upper circuit.

At the same time, stocks like ICICI Bank, Crompton Greaves, Bata, Cals, Bankof Baroda, Hero Honda, Kopran Drugs, Max India, GNFC, Indusind Bank, LibordFinance, Vikas WSP, Alpha Drugs, Torrent Cables, Esab India, LupinChemicals, Mico, ABG Heavy, SRF, Chicago Pnematic, TTK Bio, GujaratAlkalies, and Vanavil Dyes also showed smart improvement in their prices.Stocks which hit the lower circuit were: HFCL, Pentamedia, Silverline,Digital, HCL Infosys, Reliance Capital, Sterlite, Penta Com, L&T, PadminiPoly, Moser Baerand Blue Star.