They feel that the recent trend of index-managing by keeping only a handful of scrips is a dangerous play that the operators are resorting to. According to latter group, it's just a matter of time before the markets go in for a tailspin. The market is eagerly awaiting the Fed decision on interest rates, scheduled for Thursday morning. Wednesday's lacklustre trend for the day was a reflection of the same, feel dealers. However, the closing hours witnessed sudden rush for a handful of stocks which in turn took the Sensex up and it closed with a net gain of 62 points.

Dealers say this game of managing the index is dangerous . According to Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries, ``this game of managing the Sensex by building up positions in a handful of stocks is a dangerous game . In case fund buying fails to pick up over the next few days, we can expect a massive slide in the market.'' Additionally, Sanghvi pointed out that while the action is evident in a handful of stocks, there is plenty of supply in other counters which don't impact the indices much.

However, according to another dealer with a domestic broking house, it's true that the operators are building up positions. But it's always been the trend that operators do this only when they have some definitive imformation about something positive to happen. ``They might know of something which we do not know,'' said the dealer. ``They might even be frontrunning for FIIs,'' he added. However, according to Rajiv Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, the market's fortune hangs in a balance, and whatever happens - a massive slide or a major bull run - it will be an extreme situation. So for retail investors, it should mainly be `wait-and-watch', advises Sampat.

During Wednesday's trading, the old economy stocks managed to attract investment buying. HLL, ITC, L&T, MTNL and Bhel attracted huge buying interest. In fact, ITC managed to record an impressive gain of 6 per cent. Other stocks also showed positive close.

On the other hand, the software stocks opened weak in the morning, and traded in a narrow range for a major part of the day. Stocks like Satyam Computers, Silverline and Global Tele showed smart rally.