The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by over 170 points on firm Asian cues and sustained foreign fund inflows.

At 11.50 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 172.74 points or 0.59 per cent at 29,409.89 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 56.7 points or 0.63 per cent at 9,101.90.

Barring oil & gas and PSU, all other sectoral indices were trading in the positive zone. Among them, banking index gained the most by 0.74 per cent, auto 0.72 per cent, TECk 0.72 per cent and healthcare 0.69 per cent. On the other hand, oil & gas index was down 0.19 per cent and PSU 0.12 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Axis Bank (+2.32%), Sun Pharma (+1.3%), HDFC (+1.3%), Asian Paints (+1.21%) and Tata Motors (+1.19%), while the major losers were ONGC (-1.24%), GAIL (-0.77%), Coal India (-0.48%), ITC (-0.28%) and Dr Reddy's (-0.16%).

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday after Wall Street steadied and the dollar bounced from a four-month-low, as anxiety over Donald Trump's setback on healthcare reform gave way to tentative hopes for the US President's planned stimulus policies.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.6 per cent.

The S&P 500 cut earlier losses on Monday to end slightly lower, while the Dow declined for an eighth straight session, as investors assessed how the defeat of President Donald Trump's first major legislative action would impact the rest of his agenda.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 45.74 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 20,550.98, the S&P 500 lost 2.39 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 2,341.59 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.64 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 5,840.37.