Mumbai: After a brief two-session pause, the market rallied by 17 points under the leadership of new economy stocks in an otherwise mixed trend on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on July 8 on heavy buying by operators, as well as selective purchases by foreign funds.

Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, HCL Technologies and Zee Telefilms were in the limelight scoring sharp gains on hectic buying prompted by expectations of encouraging working in the first quarter by IT major Infosys Tech. The company will come out with Q1 results on July 10.

Old economy shares like ITC, L&T, BHEL, BSES, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Lab, Hindalco and Nestle recorded marked gains.

Reflecting the upsurge, the BSE benchmark 30-share index opened firm at 3,628.02 and later fluctuated erratically in a small range between 3,645.64 and 3,623.02 before ending at 3,629.68 as against July 7 close of 3,612.53, netting a rise of 17.15 points or 0.47 per cent.

Operators were strongly bullish and continued to make commitments in blue-chip counters including IT shares.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) that have made net purchases of Rs 797 crore during last week, were believed to be net buyers in software sector.

The rally in IT sector was partly aided by a sharp upturn on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average ended up by 146.59 points and the NASDAQ composite index by 57.79 points on July 7.

PTI