Another heavyweight that rallied was TCS, which gained along with Hindalco and HDFC. However, the star from the Sensex was Bharti Airtel which surged almost 5 per cent in trade.

Shares in HDFC continued to find buyers after the company reported a good set of quarterly numbers on Monday. Thermax fell almost 8 per cent after the company's numbers disappointed the street. Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade were Maruti Suzuki and Larsen and Toubro.

Banking stocks were weak in trade with Yes Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and State Bank of India among the losers.

Shares in Idea Cellular were up, after the company reported a good set of Q4 numbers. Reports that select companies are looking at the possibility of opening payment banks also helped boost sentiments.

Mid cap stocks saw some selling pressure in trade with Petronet LNG dropping 4 per cent, while other notable losers were Syndicate Bank, India Cements and Jain Irrigation.

Meanwhile, markets in Europe were trading higher with the German DAX, the French CAC and the UK's FTSE all ending with gains.

GoodReturns.in