Sensex gains 217 pts on easing political concerns

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Tuesday rose 217points on buying by funds in fundamentally strong stocks amid easing politicalworries and falling crude oil prices.

The 30-share index closed higher by 216.98 points, or 1.19per cent, at 18,439.65 points. It had lost 267 points in last two previous sessions.

The broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by57.65 points, or 1.06 per cent, to 5,520.80 with tech, IT, metal and bankingstocks gaining the most.

Brokers said investor confidence regained following reportsthat DMK leaders are making efforts to find a way out of the crisis overseat-sharing issue with the Congress in Tamil Nadu.

They said the fears of further rise in inflation were alsocapped as crude oil prices declined in international markets.

Crude oil fell for the first time in three days afterreports that Libya's MuammarQaddafi offered to relinquish power, prompting speculation fighting may ease inAfrica's third-biggest producer.

A firming trend in the Asian region and higher opening in Europe further fuelled the uptrend and advised investorsto pick fundamentally strong stocks available at cheaper levels.

In 30-BSE index kitty stocks, 25 closed higher whileHindustan Unilever remained unchanged. All the sectoral indices were also inpositive mode.

The most heaviest on the index, Reliance Industries rose byRs 8.25 to Rs 984.40 and second heaviest Infosys Technologies by Rs 76.95 to Rs3,114.65. The two carry nearly 23 per cent weightage on the Sensex.

Other major supporters were Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICIBank, State Bank of India,Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Consultancy.

The teck index gained the most by rising 1.98 per cent to3,675.77 followed by IT index by 1.90 per cent to 6,285.03.

Metal index rose by 1.49 per cent to 15,833.04, bankingindex by 1.48 per cent to 12,427.24 and realty index by 1.35 per cent to2,070.48.

As the buying activity spilled over a broader front, midcapindex rose by 0.97 per cent to 6,562.05 and smallcap index by 0.76 per cent to7,944.85.