Local stocks extended gains for seventh straight trading session amid support from index pivotals, Reliance Industries, ITC and Infosys. Most auto shares declined. The Nifty ended above 11,500 mark.

The barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, gained 268.40 points or 0.70% to 38,363.47. The index hit high of 38,396.06 and low of 38,078.23 in intraday trade.

The Nifty 50 index rose 70.20 points or 0.61% to 11,532.40. The index hit high of 11,543.85 and low of 11,451.25 in intraday trade.

Stocks opened with small gains and continued hovering near flat line in morning trade. Benchmarks turned range bound in mid-morning trade. Fresh buying support boosted shares in mid-afternoon trade as positive cues from European stock market improved investors sentiment. Indices hit fresh intraday high in late trade.

Buying was broad based. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.52%. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.37%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1411 shares rose and 1295 shares fell. A total of 170 shares were unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Telecom index (up 1.75%), the S&P BSE Energy index (up 1.53%), and the S&P BSE FMCG index (up 1.14%) outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Metal index (down 0.11%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.61%), the S&P BSE Auto index (down 0.61%) underperformed the Sensex.

NTPC (up 2.19%), Bharti Airtel (up 1.81%), ONGC (up 1.49%), State Bank of India (up 1.44%) and Yes Bank (up 1.3%) were the major Sensex gainers.

Among index heavyweights, ITC (up 2.45%), Reliance Industries (up 2.05%) and Infosys (up 1.66%) edged higher.

HCL Technologies rose 2.18%. The company has entered into a shared services arrangement with Xerox Corporation pursuant to which Xerox will outsource (subject to compliance with European works council consultation and employment regulatory requirements) certain global administrative and support functions, including, among others, selected information technology and finance functions (excluding accounting). The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 18 March 2019.

Most auto shares declined. Eicher Motors (down 2.55%), TVS Motor Company (down 2.35%), Hero MotoCorp (down 2.1%), Maruti Suzuki India (down 1.13%), Ashok Leyland (down 0.92%) and Bajaj Auto (down 0.77%), edged lower. Tata Motors (up 0.27%), Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.83%) and Escorts (up 3.6%) edged higher.

Mindtree fell 2.03%. The promoters of Mindtree after market hours yesterday, 18 March 2019, said they would unconditionally oppose the reported hostile takeover bid by Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

L&T fell 1.6%. L&T announced after market hours yesterday, 18 March 2019, that it entered into a definitive share purchase agreement (SPA) with V G Siddhartha and his related entities namely, Coffee Day Trading & Coffee Day Enterprises, to acquire 20.32% stake in Mindtree, a global technology services and digital transformation company. L&T will purchase this stake at a price of Rs 980 per share, aggregating to approximately Rs 3269 crore.

Immediately following the filing of the public announcement, L&T placed an order with its broker for on-market purchase of up to 15% of share capital of Mindtree at a price not exceeding Rs 980 per share. Pursuant to execution of the SPA, the aforementioned market order for share purchase and with the intent to acquire majority stake in Mindtree, L&T announced an open offer to the public shareholders of Mindtree to purchase up to an additional 31% of the outstanding shares of Mindtree at a price of Rs 980 per share in cash.

Voltas rose 1.56%. The company has further strengthened its leadership position in the Cooling Products space, by launching its new range of Voltas Adjustable Inverter ACs. Voltas' Adjustable Inverter AC comes with the unique value proposition of 'Flexible Air Conditioning' that allows the user to switch from 1.5 Ton to 1 Ton capacity, and vice versa, depending on the ambient heat or number of people in the room; leading to savings and optimization of running cost. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 18 March 2019.

Overseas, European shares traded higher on Tuesday as investors monitored heightened Brexit uncertainty. Asian shares fell ahead of a closely watched meeting by the US Federal Reserve set to kick off later in the day.

Britain's parliament banned another vote on same Brexit deal. Prime Minister Theresa May's third attempt to get parliament to back her Brexit deal were thrown into further turmoil on Monday when the speaker of parliament ruled that she could not put her divorce deal to a new vote unless it was re-submitted in fundamentally different form. May has only two days to win approval for her deal to leave the European Union if she wants to go to a summit with the bloc's leaders on Thursday with something to offer them in return for more time.

US stocks closed modestly higher Monday, as investors prepared for a meeting of Federal Reserve policy makers to begin Tuesday. The Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged when it concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday. Investors will focus on the statement issued by policy makers.

On the US data front, the National Association of Home Builders' monthly confidence index was unchanged at a seasonally-adjusted reading of 62.