Mumbai: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today recovered by over 218 points on fund-based buying in heavyweight stocks, led by banks, on expectations of better fourth quarter earnings and firm global trends. The 30-share index, which had lost 256 points in the previous session, bounced back to record a gain of 218.74 points to close at 17,933.14 points. The BSE barometer commenced the day higher and recorded the longest nine-week gain since June last year. The index advanced 1.2 percent this week. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 57.30 points to 5,361.75 points. The chart showing the 52 week performance of Sensex is on the left. Brokers said expectations of good fourth quarter result by India Inc and heavy foreign fund inflows boosted the bourses. The market is entering the period of quarterly earnings with IT major Infosys kickstarting the reporting season on Tuesday. Most Asian stocks ended higher after overnight gains on Wall Street which also influenced the trading sentiment, they added. Among the 30-index stocks, 22 ended with gains. Major support was lent by Infosys, Reliance Industries, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Sterlite Industries and Tata Motors. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries ended higher by 1.78 percent. Tata motors rose by 4.51 percent followed by HDFC by 4.41 percent, BHEL by 2.79 percent, Jai parakash Associate by 2.57 percent, HDFC Bank by 2.56 percent, Sterlite by 2.19 percent and Hero Honda by 2.02 percent. The key benchmark indices in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore rose between 0.30 percent and 1.56 percent while South Korea index eased by 0.54 percent.