In a volatile trade, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Monday snapped its two-day falling streak by rising 22 points to over 18,882 as investors opted for selective buying in fundamentally strong shares.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index Sensex, which had lost 675 points in last two trading sessions, gained 21.81 points to 18,882.25, led by software exporting stocks on the speculation of improved earnings.

However, every rise in the market was capped on profit booking.

A weak trend in the Asian region and lower opening in Europe also influenced the trading sentiment.

As the market turned volatile, Sensex moved widely between the 19,018.94 and 18,779.38 range, before settling with moderate gains.

The gauge dropped 9.9 percent from its peak level set on 5th November amid concerns that the RBI might raise interest rates an its meeting next week to curb inflation.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty settled almost flat by easing 0.20 point to 5,654.75, after moving between 5,696.15 and 5,624.15.

Buying in IT stocks on expectations a recovery in global economy helped the market to edge up.

Tata Consultancy Services, the biggest software services exporter, gained 1.74 percent to Rs 1,138.15 before its earnings report later Monday and Infosys Technologies advanced 2.06 percent to Rs3,267.95.

Indian IT companies get more than 50 percent of their revenues from the US and European markets.

The IT sector index gained the most by 1.73 percent to 6,550.19 followed by Tech index, up 1.33 percent at 3,865.16. Consumer durable index rose by 0.25 percent to 5,972.23.

As the selling activity spilled over a wide-front, the smallcap index fell by 1.40 percent to 8,868.15 and midcap index by 1.39 percent to 7,123.19.