Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Tuesday tracking a firm trend in Asian markets and buying in index major Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and IT counters.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 295.59 points to 57,949.45 in early trade. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 76.05 points to 17,061.75.

Among the Sensex firms, Tata Steel, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, ICICI Bank, HCL Technologies, Wipro, HDFC Bank and HDFC were the prominent winners in early trade.

Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Power Grid and Nestle were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green.

The US markets ended on a mixed note on Monday.

"Early optimism could be seen in Tuesday's trade on the back of positive cues from other Asian indices even as the US markets ended mixed overnight.

"The financial troubles in key US and European banking entities could be waning after the recent troubles, which is providing some confidence to investors, although one may not rule out that the overall undertone still remains that of cautious to negative," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said in his pre-market opening comment.

The 30-share BSE benchmark climbed 126.76 points or 0.22 per cent to finish at 57,653.86 on Monday. The Nifty advanced 40.65 points or 0.24 per cent to end at 16,985.70.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.29 per cent to USD 77.89 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 890.64 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

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