Software shares which witnessed dull trend during last couple of days on the bourses staged smart rally on FIIs buying today, dealers said.

Reflecting the firm trend, the 30-scrip BSE sensitive index opened at 2975.78, surpassed the 3000 mark and touched the day's high of 3007.66, fell to touch the day's low of 2972.75 before closing at 3003.25, showing a net gain of 33.65 points from the previous close of 2968.60 points. The broad-based BSE-100 index advanced by 16.20 points to 1339.49 as against the previous close of 1323.29.

FIIs made purchases in SBI, Hindustan Lever and HDFC while the domestic funds bought shares of Infotech, Hoechst and few others. FIIs made purchases worth Rs 23 crore against their sales worth Rs 30 crore while the domesticinstitutional investors made purchases worth Rs 23 crore against their sales worth Rs 11 crore.

The total turnover on the BOLT system reported during the day was Rs 934.52 crore. Satyam Computer posted highest turnover of Rs 117.11 crore, followed by SBI Rs 87.67 crore, ITC Rs 82.89 crore, Pentafour Rs 69.81 crore, Reliance Rs 61.52 crore and See Telefilm Rs 61.52 crore.

On the NSE, share prices rose further on increased buying activity. The S&P CNX Nifty commenced firm at 862.90 and rose further to end at 875.05, showing a good gain of 15 over the last close of 860.00. CNX Nifty junior rallied by 27.80 to close at 1467.15 from the previous level of 1439.35. The total turnover was Rs 1,193.71 crore from 610.64 lakh shares and in 1,93,405 trades. Debentures traded value was Rs 88.82 lakh.

The exchange witnessed 740 scrips advance, 239 scrips decline and 94 scrips steady. 63 securities hit their price bands today. The most actively traded scrips were Satyam Comp with a turnover of Rs 207.32 crore, SBIN Rs98.67 crore.