Mumbai, Oct 16 (IANS) A positive start to the second quarter results season, along with a stable rupee and low crude oil prices, pushed both the key equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- higher for the third consecutive session on Tuesday.

The day's trade saw all sectors close on a high note led by finance, banking and energy stocks.

Index-wise, the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex settled at 35,162.48 points, up 297.38 points or 0.85 per cent. It touched an intra-day high of 35,215.79 points and a low of 34,913.06 points.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty50 ended the day's trade on a positive note. It closed at 10,584.75 points, up 72.25 points, or 0.69 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said: "Market maintained a positive momentum as healthy start to the earnings season and gaining strength in rupee supported the sentiment."

"Though rally was broad based, financials led from the front. However, global market remain mixed due to trade tensions. Earnings season will dictate the trend in the market as investors are gradually shifting their focus from global volatility to domestic triggers."

According to Abhijeet Dey, Senior Fund Manager-Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund: "On the macro front, India's merchandise trade deficit during April-September 2018 was reported at $94.32 billion. The trade deficit for September 2018 was at $13.98 billion, which is the lowest in the last 5 months, despite high oil prices."

On Tuesday, the Indian rupee closed at 73.46, recovering 37 paise from its previous close of 73.83 per US dollar.

Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 1,165.63 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors bought scrip Rs 1,059.44 crore.

HDFC Securities' Retail Research Head Deepak Jasani told: "Technically, the underlying trend of Nifty continues to be positive. At the same time one needs to be cautious of long trading positions at the highs."

"Resistance for the Nifty is now at 10,720-10,754 band. Immediate supports to
be watched is at 10,490 levels."

The top gainers in the Sensex were Mahindra and Mahindra, up 3.97 per cent at Rs 778.30; Adani Ports, up 3.54 per cent at Rs 333; ONGC up 3.44 per cent at Rs 165.50; SBI up 2.60 per cent at Rs 270.20; and ICICI Bank, up 2.51 per cent at Rs 321.05.

Major losers included HDFC Bank, down 0.77 per cent at Rs 1,992.40; Bajaj Auto, down 0.54 per cent at Rs 2,611.15; Maruti Suzuki, down 0.45 per cent at Rs 7,149.95; Infosys, down 0.39 per cent at Rs 696.40; and IndusInd Bank, down 0.37 per cent at Rs 1,620.85 per share.

--IANS ravi-rv/vm