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Indian equity benchmarks opened higher on Tuesday

Indian stock exchanges will remain closed on Monday on account of Holi.

Benchmark equities indices ended the first day of the April series contract with gains of over 1% amid heavy buying seen metal, financial, and auto stocks.

Sensex ended 568 points or 1.17% higher at 49,008, while the broader Nifty surged 182 points or 1.27 % to 14,507.

Bajaj Finserv was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 4%, followed by Titan, Asian Paints, HUL, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Auto and Nestle India. PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, ITC and Maruti were the laggards.

According to traders, domestic indices witnessed a smart recovery and ended on a strong note following the positive trend in global equity markets.

All sectoral indices ended in green with the Nifty Metal index gaining the most, up over 3.5%. Nifty FMCG, Nifty Realty rallied over 1.5%; Nifty Auto index also jumped 1.24% whereas Nifty Bank surged 0.94%. Nifty IT & Nifty Pharma ended over 0.50% higher.

Broader markets also followed the benchmark indices as BSE MidCap & BSE SmallCap were up 1.66% and 1.08% respectively.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with significant gains.

Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a positive note in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 2.05% higher at USD 63.22 per barrel.