Domestic benchmarks opened higher on Tuesday on strong third-quarter corporate earnings ahead of the Union Budget due next week, while a technology stocks-led rally on Wall Street helped broader sentiment.

In early trade, while the Nifty 50 index was up 0.26 per cent at 18,167.85, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.32 per cent to 61,145.04 in early trade

Most major sectoral indexes jumped, with high weightage financials and information technology rising 0.4 per cent and 0.85 per cent respectively, after banks managed to contain bad loans and improve recoveries, while IT companies said they bagged more deals despite a softness in Europe.

Auto stocks advanced ahead of quarterly earnings by top carmaker Maruti Suzuki, scheduled to report later in the day.

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Heavyweight private lender Axis Bank Ltd fell over 1 per cent despite posting a stronger-than-expected jump in third-quarter profit on Monday. The stock had logged gains in each of the last five sessions ahead of its results, adding 2.14 per cent.

Meanwhile, Wall Street equities extended gains to a second straight session on Monday, after technology stocks surged on easing fears of a recession.

Investors were waiting for details from the union budget due next week. Euro zone and US flash PMI data coming later in the day were expected to show less severe economic contractions in December than in the previous month.

Most Asian equities were closed on Tuesday.

A rise in crude prices above $88 per barrel capped gains, as crude constitutes bulk of the import bill of oil-importing countries like India. Continued foreign selling in Indian equities on expensive valuations also offset gains in markets.

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