New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS): Amid rising Covid cases in the country, Indian equity markets continued with their uptrend and settled sharply higher on Tuesday.

Accordingly, Sensex and Nifty settled at 59,855 points and 17,805 points, up 1.1 and 1.0 from their previous close, respectively.

On Tuesday, banking, financial services, and oil and gas stocks rose the most.

"Despite surging Covid cases, investor sentiments remain positive globally as reports suggest lower impact of the new variant on economic recovery," said Vinod Nair of Geojit Financial Services.

Among the stocks, NTPC, Pidilite Industries, Hindustan Zinc, ONGC, and Power Grid Corp rallied the most, rising 5.5 per cent, 5.1 per cent, 3.4 per cent, 3.3 per cent, 2.7 per cent, respectively, data showed.

Cadila Healthcare, Marico, Tata Motors, Abott India, and Coal India were some of the stocks that declined during the session.

According to Rohit Singre, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities: "Strong move has been witnessed in Nifty as it managed to close a day at 17,805 with gains of more than 1 per cent and formed a bullish candle for the third consecutive session. We may see some more extension in current pullback towards 18,000-mark, while on the higher side the immediate hurdle is coming near 17,900-18,000-mark."

Besides, shares of companies dealing in sugar also saw a sharp jump on Tuesday as brokerages turned bullish on the sector.