The Sensex rebounded into green in mid-noon trades, a recovery of 172 points from its low.

The recovery can be attributed to the absence of selling by hedge funds. Dealers said there are expectations of improved rollover of derivative contracts in the next two days.

They said around noon the Nifty rollovers are in the region of 25-28 percent, much lower than the average on last Monday before expiry. Current month Nifty futures turning into premium from discount of last week is also seen an indicator for stock index to rise.

However, the recovery in the markets was however short-lived as the Sensex again extended losses towards close. With January 26 being an holiday, fears of global markets reaction saw traders cut short their long positions.

The Sensex finally ended with a loss of 79 points at 16,780. The NSE Nifty closed shop at 5,008, down 28 points. In the process the Sensex has declined for the fifth straight day and has declined 861 points during the same period.