Mumbai: A smart rally in old-economy shares helped the SENSEX recover 22.25 points to close at 3333.31 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on December 18 following a fresh wave of buying enquiries that snapped the two-session downward correction.

A sharp to moderate rise in index-based counters like ITC, SBI, Grasim, L&T, MTNL, Tisco, BSES, Hero Honda, HDFC, Dr Reddy and Ranbaxy mainly contributed to the SENSEX gains, a dealer said, adding "Sentiment remains positive for further gains tomorrow".

Under the leadership of SBI, banking stocks remained in the limelight on heavy buying by operators and retail investors while few of them reacted on late profit selling.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 3321.12 and remained in the positive zone throughout the day. It moved between a high of 3348.57 and 3319.25 before concluding at 3333.31, a rise of 0.67 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 index also improved by 8.79 points to close at 1639.35 from previous close of 1630.56.

Some institutional selling was seen in front-line software shares while select second-rung IT counters finished with smart gains on good buying support from speculators, dealers said.

The rally has percolated to second-line stocks as operators seemed to have shifted their attention to these low priced stocks, they added.

Meanwhile, petrochem giant and heavyweight, RIL suffered a sharp set back on institutional selling.

PTI