After losing over 512 points since March 9, Dalal Street staged a strong recovery on Monday, thanks to bargain hunting and short covering in blue chips. Up as much as 112.23 points at one point, the Sensex eventually ended with a decent gain of 67.87 points at 6,510.74.The 50-share NSE S & P CNX Nifty index gained 14.05 points to settle at 2,029.45.“While recovery was broad-based, banking, construction and metal stocks were in the limelight. Despite the smart recovery in stocks, volumes on the bourses were light, indicating low investor participation,” said BSE dealer Venkat Aiyer. Besides, hopes of NAV-based buying from mutual funds and short covering in the derivatives segment also lifted stocks. March series futures contracts expire on Thursday.After touching its lifetime high in intra-day trades on March 9, 2005, the markets drifted during the last fortnight, as investors booked profits at higher levels. Year-end concerns, high international oil prices and fears of higher interest rates also contributed to the weakness of the market.While year-end considerations still persist, investors are hopeful of good quarterly earnings. Expectations have started building up over the financial results for the quarter ending March 2005 and players expect good results from banking, technology and metal companies. Banking stocks were in the limelight. The BSE Bankex gained 55.57 points, or 1.46 per cent, to end at 3,858.06.
