A key Indian market index recovered ground Monday after it fell over 3.5 percent during intra-day trading Tuesday, with sentiments dampened by the US officially confirming a recession in the world's largest economy.

With a decline in India's merchandise exports during October for the first time in five years and no signs on the horizon of any immediate recovery of the global economy, investor sentiments were dampened further, analysts said.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex), opened lower at 8,535.83 points against Monday's close at 8,839.87 points, and dipped further to the day's low of 8,467.43 points as trading progressed.

Towards the end, however, the barometer index recovered ground to close at 8,739.24 points, with a loss of 100.63 points, or 1.14 percent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 30-share S and amp;P CNX Nifty closed at 2,657.80 points, against the previous close at 2,682.90 points, to register a decline of 0.94 percent.

Trading began on a worrisome note that the benchmark Dow Jones index of the Wall Street had plunged 680 points Monday as the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a non-profit organisation, declared that recession in the US.

'All evidences, other than the ambiguous movements of the quarterly product-side measure of domestic production, confirmed that conclusion,' said NBER in a news that further set a gloomy outlook for India against the backdrop of falling exports.

Also worrying was the agency's remarks that the US recession had actually begun in December last year, which led Indian equities to plummet when trading began Tuesday morning.

Data with the BSE showed that 18 out of 20 shares that go into the Sensex basket ended lower. And among the 13 sector-specific indices, only those for realty, fast moving consumer goods and power managed to stay afloat.

Among the Sensex shares, Reliance Infrastructure led the gainers, followed by Bharti Airtel, Jaiprakash Associates, NTPC, ITC, DLF and Ranbaxy.

On the other hand, Mahindra and Mahindra led the losers, followed by Maruti Suzuki and Tata Consultancy.

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