Sensex up by nearly 550 points to close at 58,960; Nifty ends at 17,486

Equity benchmark indices rallied for the third day in a row on Tuesday amid firm global market trends and buying in index major Reliance Industries.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 549.62 points or 0.94 per cent to settle at 58,960.60. During the day, it zoomed 732.68 points or 1.25 per cent to 59,143.66.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 175.15 points or 1.01 per cent to end at 17,486.95.

State Bank of India (SBI) was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, followed by ITC, Nestle, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries and Larsen & Toubro.

HDFC, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra and Sun Pharma were the laggards.

Other Asian markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended with gains, while Shanghai settled lower.

Stock exchanges in Europe were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals. Wall Street had ended significantly higher on Monday.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.65 per cent lower at USD 91.02 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the Indian capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth ₹372.03 crore, as per exchange data.