BOUNCING BACK; MARKET CLIMBS 232 POINTS, NEARLY ERASING LAST WEEK'S LOSS.

Byline: Peter G. Gosselin The Boston Globe

The U.S. stock market Monday all but erased its losses from last week's sharp fall, sending the Dow Jones industrial average up 232 points and leaving many analysts uneasy that the swift recovery may be too much of a good thing.

An overnight rebound in Asian markets, where last week's troubles began, and a seemingly unshakable conviction among investors that they should buy on dips or market declines drove the widely watched Dow up 3.1 percent to 7,674.4. That's a mere 41 points shy of where it was before its 554-point free fall Oct. 27, which prompted dark warnings of world financial upheaval and a coming bear market.

``The herd mentality is alive and well,'' said David H. Thompson, director of funds management at BankBoston Corp. ``Asia triggered last week's collapse and now that Asia is back, we're back.''

Even market optimists said they were a little shaken by the swiftness of the turnaround, wondering aloud whether individual investors truly appreciate the risks of buying stocks.

``There's such a culture of equities in this country at this point that everybody wants the market to go up. We've become equity cheerleaders,'' said H. Vernon Winters, chief investment officer for Boston-based Mellon Private Asset Management, which manages $38 billion.

Even with the economy growing at a healthy 3.5 percent clip and most companies' profits continuing to beat predictions, ``it worries me to see things snap back quite this fast,'' Winters said. ``I would like to see people a little more scared,'' he said.

LOCAL MOVERS

Top 5 percentage movers in the Daily News/Bloomberg Index:

COMPANY MONDAY CHANGE %

CLOSE

1. Semtech Corp. 51 +4 7/16 9.53

Newbury Park

2. Amgen Inc. 52 1/2 +3 1/4 6.60

Thousand Oaks

3. Eltron 31 +1 7/8 6.44

International / Simi Valley

4. Cheesecake 33 1/2+2 6.35

Factory / Calabasas

5. Syncor 16 3/4 +1 6.35

International / Woodland Hills

CAPTION(S):

Box

BOX: LOCAL MOVERS (see text)