Sensex recovers, up 76 pts

Automobile stocks led the recovery following improved sales numbers from Hero Honda and Maruti Udyog, while PSU, cement and metal stocks chipped in to the overall gains of the Sensex. Up nearly 140 points at one point, the upswing in the Sensex could be gauged by a sharp to moderate rise in 25 out of 30 index-based shares including heavyweights like RIL, Infosys, Tata Motors, ITC, Hero Honda, HPCL, Grasim, ICICI Bank, MTNL, MUL, Tisco, Ranbaxy and SBI, a dealer said.

Most tracked stock index BSE Sensex has shed 363.61 points in the last five trading sessions. In fact, it lost 895.47 points, or 15.83 per cent in May recording its worst monthly loss in the last two-and-a-half years.

The NSE S&P CNX Nifty Index also gained 24.30 points, or 1.64 per cent, to end at 1,507.90. Attributing the turn-around to fairly good FIIs inflows last weekend, brokers said operators which were in oversold territory, covered short position after heavy sell-off leading to the market crash of 223 points on May 28.

Generally, investors were believed to be engaged in arbitrage dealings and were sellers in derivatives while making commitments in cash segment, brokers added.

Select public sector undertakings (PSUs) shares, particularly refinery like HPCL, BPCL, IOC, IBP, GAIL, Chennai Petro and few others, were in keen demand on renewed buying and as a result the BSE-PSU index rose by 74.45 points or 2.56 per cent to close at 2978.11 from 2903.66 yesterday.