Mumbai: Well supported by a remarkable rally in heavyweight counters HLL, RIL and Infosys Technologies, the SENSEX ended 23 points higher in an otherwise lacklustre activity on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on December 24 on buying support from operators as well as foreign funds.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were sidelined in view of long Christmas holidays in the world markets.

Attributing early marked setback in stocks to a sharp rise in International oil prices that shot up to a 22-month high over concerns about the continuing general strike in Venezuela and a possible war in Iraq, brokers said speculators made heavy commitments in select second-line stocks while reducing their positions in some blue-chip counters.

Key IT stocks like Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers and HCL Techno and majority of other software counters scored handsome gains on fresh buying by foreign funds on the back of positive advices from Nasdaq where the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose by over 18 points on December 23 night.

Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) giant, HLL was also in keen demand from financial institutions.

After touching the intra-day low of 3318.02 at early stages, the BSE Benchmark 30-share Index gradually moved upwards to a high of 3359.39 before ending at 3352.77 as against yesterday's close of 3329.61, netting a gain of 23.16 points or 0.70 per cent.

The broad-based BSE-100 Index also improved by 12.98 points to 1648.32 from previous close of 1635.34.

Majority of cement counters also attracted brisk buying support from investors.

PTI