The Bombay Sensitive Index gained 28 points. The closing rates showed small but widespread gains. The volume of business remained below normal.

The CNX S&P Nifty index also recovered marginally to close at 859.80 points with a gain of 4.35 points.

The BSE Sensex opened better at 2928.08 and moved irregularly in a narrow range of 2958.45 and 2899.67 points before closing at 2950.44 with a small gain compared to the previous level of 2922.61. The BSE-100 index edged up by 11.44 points to 1320.26 from the previous close of 1308.82.

Brokers say the small recovery was mainly due to start of the new account and lower badla charges and several scrips attracting backwardation charges in the last settlement. The FIs had taken delivery of all their purchases in the last week leading to shortage of floatingstocks.

The volume of business dropped sharply to Rs 811.48 crore from last Friday's turnover of Rs 1100.39 crore. While the FII transaction on the BSE once again indicated a net sell off to the tune of Rs 23 crore, the figures on NSE were not available.

The market was agog with rumours that FII placed select purchase orders atpharma and info-tech counters.

The star performer of the day was Burroughs Wellcome which hit the upper end of the price band at Rs 466.60 on the NSE.