New Delhi, March 21 -- Mumbai: Stock market indices have pulled back from the lows of early March, but veterans on the Street do not believe the market has bottomed out yet. The reason: Persistent selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who have dumped Indian shares for six straight months through March.

The Nifty and Sensex have recovered over 1,200 and 3,700 points from their nine-month lows seen earlier this month. On Thursday -- the day of weekly derivatives expiry which tends to see sharp movements -- the Nifty rose 1.24% to close at 23190.65, while the Sensex settled 1.19% higher at 76348.06.

The continued recovery has been aided primarily by FPI short-covering in Nifty and Bank Nifty futures and, to a lesser extent, by dom...