Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Tuesday helped by buying in IT counters and an overall positive trend in global markets.

After a firm start, the BSE Sensex further climbed 144.85 points to 59,433.20. The NSE Nifty advanced 35.55 points to 17,428.25.

From the Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Wipro, Titan and HDFC Bank were the major gainers.

State Bank of India, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel and IndusInd Bank were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea, Japan, China and Hong Kong were trading in the positive territory.

The US markets had ended higher on Monday.

On Monday, the BSE benchmark had declined 175.58 points or 0.30 per cent to settle at 59,288.35, while the Nifty fell 73.10 points or 0.42 per cent to end at 17,392.70.

International oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.17 per cent to USD 82.59 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded shares worth Rs 2,022.52 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.