Mumbai: The Sensex, which recorded its steepest fall in three months yesterday, climbed 123.39 points to close at 17,503.47, supported by stocks in realty, consumer durables, metal and refinery sectors. The National Stock Exchange index Nifty also rose 38.70 to 5,254.15, as investors judged that domestic growth will offset any global economic slowdown caused by European credit-rating cuts. Rating agencies earlier this week assigned junk status to Greece's debt, triggering fears that the country would default on its $8.5 billion worth bond payments. This had spooked the markets world over. Investors covering their pending positions on the last day of current month settlement in the derivative segment further fuelled the uptrend. Food inflation falling to 16.61 percent for the week ended April 17 from 17.65 percent in the previous week also helped the buying sentiment. Elsewhere, European stocks opened better, taking cues from overnight gains on Wall Street. In the 30-BSE index component, 19 stocks ended higher while 11 closed lower. Realty sector stocks gained the most as sector index rose by 1.96 percent to 3,430.50 followed by consumer durable index by 1.69 percent to 4,598.21