New Delhi, Mar 29 (IANS): India's key equity indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- extended their gains from the previous day and closed Tuesday's session on a positive note.

After a weak start to the year 2022, the benchmark Sensex index rose over 4 per cent so far in March, however, it declined 2 per cent in the year-to-date period of the current calendar year. Much of the decline was due to foreign fund outflows and lately the war in Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Sensex settled 0.6 per cent or 350 points up at 57,944 points, whereas Nifty 0.6 per cent or 103 points up at 17,325 points.

"Reports of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine along with weakening crude prices helped the global markets to trade firm," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

"Crude prices are settling following the prospects of a peace talk and in expectation of lower demand from the Chinese market due to increased covid restrictions."

Among the individual stocks, Eicher Motors, HDFC, Divi's Labs, Adani Ports, and JSW Steel were the top five gainers among the Nifty 50 companies, while Hero Motocorp, ONGC, Coal India, IOC, and ITC the top five losers, NSE data showed.