Shares of Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel rallied 2 percent each followed by State Bank of India, Maruti Suzuki and Larsen and Toubro with 1.5 percent upmove.

Brent futures eased towards USD 106 a barrel as world powers and Iran took a step forward in ending a decade-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme, but worries of prolonged outages at other exporters supported prices.

While chances of a potential conflict diminished after Iran halted its most sensitive nuclear operations under a preliminary deal, prospects of the OPEC member pumping more supplies still remain far away. That kept investors focused on immediate supply worries stemming from unrest in Iraq and Africa. Brent crude fell 4 cents to USD 106.31 a barrel by 0340 GMT, after dropping to a low of USD 105.81 in the previous session.

U.S. oil futures slipped 48 cents to USD 93.89. Floor trading was shut, and there will be no settlement on the New York Mercantile Exchange due to the Martin Luther King Junior Day US holiday, reports Reuters.

Tata Motors is top gainer in the Sensex, rising 3 percent followed by ICICI Bank and Bank of Baroda with 2.5 percent upmove. Metals stocks like Sesa Sterlite and Tata Steel rallied 2 percent each while Maruti Suzuki and State Bank of India gained over 1.5 percent. However, Asian Paints dropped 2.78 percent after reporting degrowth of 1.8 percent in bottomline in the quarter ended December 2013. Kotak Mahindra Bank slipped 2.09 percent ahead of Q3 earnings. Coal India , TCS and UltraTech Cement fell 1-1.5 percent. MCX India, Aurobindo Pharma , Tata Motors, Sesa Sterlite, SBI , HDFC , HCL Technologies and TCS are most active sharemarkets on exchanges.

The country’s second largest low-fare airline SpiceJet cut airfares on Tuesday by 50 percent for booking for three days on or before 23 January in a move to improve load factor during the off-season. A minimum of 30 days advance purchase has been kept as a must for customers to avail the discount. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, SL Narayanan, Group CFO, Sun Group said he expects no impact on margins as a result of the discounts. He also clarified that the offer is valid only for domestic flights. Losses at SpiceJet have been mounting, as the company grapples with high fuel price and fierce competition. The company has reported a net loss of Rs 508 crore for the first half of this financial year, on the back of a Rs 191-crore loss for 2012-13.