The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday following rally in Asian peers that gained on hopes of a potential coronavirus vaccine after a positive development from a Moderna trial. Gains in banking heavyweights, auto, financial services and metal stocks led the market higher.

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The Sensex opened 421.76 points or 1.40 percent higher at 30,450.74, while the Nifty50 index opened at 8,961.70, up 138.45 points or 1.57 percent.

Broader indices Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 rallied over 1 percent each.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services gained the most followed by Nifty Auto, Nifty Media, Nifty Realty and Nifty Metal. Selling was witnessed in Nifty IT.

Bharti Airtel, HDFC, ONGC, JSW Steel and Zee Entertainment led gains among Nifty50 constituents, while Cipla, UPL, TCS, Wipro and Mahindra & Mahindra were the top index losers.

Bharti Airtel was among the top Nifty gainers after the company posted a strong core operational performance in the fourth quarter of 2019-20. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, revenue was up 7 percent at Rs 23,723 crore. The company's mobile ARPU in India business was at Rs 154 against Rs 135 QoQ, a growth of 14 percent. Voice usage per customer increased to 965 million against 898 million, an increase of 7.5 percent QoQ.

However, the company has posted a consolidated loss of Rs 5,237 crore YoY for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2019-20. This was on account of provisions for statutory dues, the company said on Monday.

Shares of Bajaj Finance gained over 1 percent as it will be reporting its Q4FY20 results today. A CNBC-TV18 poll suggests net interest income (NII) growth of 15.3 percent YoY and net profit growth of 11 percent YoY. Analysts are expecting provisions to remain slightly on the higher side due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, in Asia, shares rallied and oil extended gains on optimism the global economy would recover quickly following a successful early-stage trial of a coronavirus vaccine, while the euro hovered near a two-week top.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan rose 1.5 percent to two-week highs.

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