BENGALURU: Indian shares ended higher for a third straight session on Tuesday, with sharp gains in IT stocks offsetting a slide in the metal index as investors eyed the start of corporate earnings for more cues.

The NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.29% higher at 18,055.75 and the S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.37% higher at 60,616.89. Both indexes are up roughly 4% so far this year.

The Nifty IT index closed up 1.03%, with all constituents finishing in the green, a day ahead of third-quarter earnings reports from heavyweights Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys . The sub-index outperformed the benchmark indexes in 2021.

Shares of Hinduja Global Solutions added 6% after the IT services provider said it would consider a share buyback later this week.

Renewable energy firm Adani Green Energy settled up 10% after it said third-quarter operating capacity was up 84%.

Meanwhile, the Nifty metal index finished 1.8% lower as shares in JSW Steel and Tata Steel lost more than 3% each to be the top percentage losers on the blue-chip index.