Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Tuesday closed moderately higher after a fag-end sell-off minimised the handsome gains posted in early trading.

Besides, investors opted for profit-taking ahead of the start of corporate earnings season and macroeconomic data announcements later this week, traders said.

After rising sharply during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex trimmed most of the gains during the fag-end and ended marginally higher by 30.99 points or 0.04 per cent at 71,386.21. During the day, it jumped 680.25 points or 0.95 per cent to 72,035.47.

The Nifty also gave up most of the intra-day gains and ended 31.85 points or 0.15 per cent up at 21,544.85. During the day, it climbed 211.45 points or 0.98 per cent to 21,724.45.

Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Tata Motors, Sun Pharma and Tata Steel were the major gainers.

On the other hand, Nestle, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Shanghai settled higher, while Seoul and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading mostly lower. The US markets ended with significant gains on Monday.

“Positive sentiments in the Indian IT sector, fuelled by a US tech rally and demand on emerging technologies, overshadowed the anticipated muted Q3 results of the sector.

“Market optimism about potential softening of US inflation is driving expectations of near-term rate cuts, bolstering overall sentiment. But in-between profit-booking is emerging due to mixed cues from Asian markets as well as high valuation concerns,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.

The BSE benchmark tanked 670.93 points or 0.93 per cent to settle at 71,355.22 on Monday. The Nifty declined 197.80 points or 0.91 per cent to 21,513.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 16.03 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.72 per cent to USD 77.43 a barrel.