Carrying forward its modest gains since yesterday, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose marginally by over 75 points to 18,495.62 as investors purchased blue chips like RIL and Infosys amid firm global cues.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark, Sensex, which had gained 44 points in the previous session, rose 75.51 points, spurred by the gains in top rank heavy weights RIL and Infosys. It moved in a range of 18,355.30 and 18,545.95 during intra-day trading.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose 24.10 points to 5,556.25 following a better trend in Asia and higher opening in Europe.

Market traders said a fall in crude and other commodity prices in the overseas market helped assuage the inflation fears.

Crude fell amid speculation the oil producing nations might raise the output quotas at their meeting tomorrow. Brent North Sea crude for July delivery today dipped 41 cents to $114.07.

They added firming Asian markets and a higher opening in Europe rubbed off the domestic market sentiment, as investors picked fundamentally strong stocks available at attractive lower prices.

RIL and Infosys, which carry nearly 21 per cent weightage on Sensex, gained 1.93 per cent and 1.91 per cent to Rs 956.20 a piece and Rs 2,892.75 a piece, respectively.

Realty, IT and refinery sector stocks also gained. The realty sector index rose 1.59 per cent to 2,171.24, followed by oil and gas index 1.4 per cent to 9,566.12 and IT sector index 1.21 per cent to 6,125.94.