Buoyed by a quicker than expected recovery in the mining sector, resource stocks on the Botswana Stock Exchange are shining as investors take risks in the hope of significant gains.

As everywhere else, trading on the BSE had been subdued as economies and companies suffered from the effects of the global recession, but mining stocks have begun to show some recovery in the past few weeks.

Although it is too early to determine the sustainability of the recovery, investors are trickling back on to the market after being on the sidelines for some time.

Aviva was the biggest mover last week, up 42.9 percent to 100thebe. After succumbing to profit taking last week, African Copper rebounded to close the week at 121thebe in line with its movements on the London alternative exchange AIM of 10.84 pound sterling.

The company says the Toronto Stock Exchange has accepted its application to voluntarily de-list its ordinary shares. De-listing from the Canadian bourse is a condition of the closing of its previously announced funding by Zambia Copper Investment Limited, but its listing on the BSE and AIM will continue.Discovery Metals anchored the list of gainers, up 6.7 percent to 160thebe after the company announced it had obtained more positive results from its diamond drill holes at the Plutus Prospect at the company's 100 percent-owned Boseto Copper Project in north-western Botswana. The findings reinforce outcomes from previous drilling campaigns and confirm the presence of significant amounts of oxide copper minerals and the continuity of copper-silver mineralisation in the combined Plutus and Petra Mineral Resource areas.

As a result of what appears to be a slight recovery in the mining sector, the FCI loss has been cut to only about eight percent while the DCI has eased over 13 percent since the beginning of the year.

Analysts say mining stocks are set to keep outpacing other sectors as the top beneficiaries of growing optimism that a global recession will be shorter than feared.

Signs of a recovery in China, one of the main consumers of raw materials in the world, emerging appetite for risky assets and resilient metal prices have prompted investors to jump on the mining bandwagon.

But for now, analysts advise caution against picking up the shares of small exploration companies, which are among counters receiving renewed interest on the BSE, preferring large diversified basic resources groups.

"The recovery in risk appetite has been associated with a belief that the worst of the recession is over," said Andrew Bell, head of research at Rensburg Sheppards.

"But this is still an economically risky environment and not a time to concentrate your portfolio in small exploration stocks. You are still in an environment where diversification, financial strength and access to finance are going to work."

Volumes were weak on the BSE last week with only 3.0 million shares valued at P6.1 million swapping hands compared to 2.5 million shares valued at P21.4 million traded the previous week. The bulk of trading was skewed in favour of FNBB where a total of 2.7 million shares were traded in the counter during the week.

"The thin volumes traded during the week indicates lack of conviction from both retail and institutional investors that the market has bottomed," says Gary Juma of Motswedi Securities.

On the downside, Furnmart was the biggest loser, down 12 percent to a new 52-week low of 1,100thebe on a paltry 220 shares. A-Cap and AF Diamonds lost 5.7 percent apiece to 250thebe and 330thebe respectively as investors locked in profits from previous weeks' gains.