Mumbai, May 20: Benchmark Sensex recovered from early losses to settle 117 points higher on Wednesday, helped by a rally in Reliance Industries, even as investors remained cautious due to higher crude prices and a weaker rupee.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 117.54 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 75,318.39. The index opened lower and fell by 671.44 points, or 0.89 per cent, to a day's low of 74,529.41. However, buying in oil & gas, financial and auto shares in the last hour helped the index trim losses and rebound around 877 points from the day's low.
The 50-share NSE Nifty edged higher by 41 points, or 0.17 per cent, to end at 23,659. The barometer moved between a low of 23,397.30 and a high of 23,690.90 during the day.
From the 30-Sensex firms, Reliance Industries rallied 2.83 per cent. Bajaj Finserv, Trent, InterGlobe Aviation, Axis Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the winners.
Bharat Electronics, Tech Mahindra, Eternal and Tata Steel were among the major laggards.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 2 per cent lower at USD 109 per barrel.
"Markets recovered from intraday lows, supported by selective buying in large-cap stocks across autos, financials, and oil & gas," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Limited, said.
However, persistent rupee weakness and elevated crude prices continue to weigh on sentiment due to concerns around inflation and margin pressures, while FII flows remain mixed, he added.
Broader markets also advanced as the BSE MidCap Select index jumped 1.02 per cent and the SmallCap Select index rose by 0.16 per cent. Among sectoral indices, Power surged the most by 1.78 per cent, followed by Oil & Gas (1.37 per cent), Capital Goods (1.52 per cent), Energy (1.45 per cent), Industrials (0.91 per cent) and Auto (0.82 per cent).
FMCG declined 0.63 per cent, Focused IT (0.27 per cent), IT (0.24 per cent) and Consumer Durables (0.15 per cent). A total of 2,120 stocks advanced, while 1,981 declined and 209 remained unchanged on the BSE. (PTI)