The S-P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended 1 per cent higher in trade on Tuesday powered by gains in HDFC Bank, HDFC, ICICI Bank, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Tata Consultancy Services.

The benchmarks staged a gap up opening on positive global cues as risk appetite was bolstered by the formal start of the Federal Reserve's corporate bond buying programme.

However, the benchmarks came off highs wherein the Sensex dropped as much as 1,069 points from the day's highest level and the broader Nifty 50 benchmark touched an intraday low of 9,728.50 after tensions between India and China escalated along the border in Ladakh.The Sensex ended 376 points or 1.13 per cent higher at 33,605 and Nifty 50 index climbed 100 points or 1 per cent to close at 9,914.An Indian army officer and two soldiers were killed in a "violent face-off" on Monday night with Chinese soldiers at Galwan Valley in Ladakh, in a massive escalation at a time there were efforts to defuse weeks of tension at the border.

Senior military representatives of both sides are meeting currently, according to an official statement on Tuesday."The markets came off the intraday highs after reports of rising tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh," AK Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, told TheIndianSubcontinent over phone.Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Financial Service index's nearly 3 per cent gain.

Nifty Bank, Private Bank, Metal and Media indexes also rose between 1-2 per cent.On the other hand, Nifty PSU Bank index was top loser, down 1 per cent.HDFC Bank was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4 per cent to Rs 989.

HDFC, ICICI Bank, JSW Steel, Hindalco, UPL, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Hero MotoCorp and Vedanta were also among the the gainer.On the flipside, Tata Motors dropped 6 per cent after the auto maker reported a loss of Rs 9,894 crore in the March quarter, against a profit of Rs 1,117 crore in the corresponding period last year.Bharti Infratel, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, GAIL India, Indian Oil, ITC, Bharti Airtel and Power Grid were also among the laggards.