Domestic equity indices traded on a steady note in Tuesday’s opening trade, after a massive fall in the previous session, mostly in line with their Asian peers.

A media report on a possible vaccine for the coronavirus also helped the sentiments. BSE flagship Sensex was up 100 points at 40,463 while NSE benchmark Nifty added 29 points to 11,858.

Broader market indices were faring better than benchmark with Nifty Smallcap adding 0.70 per cent to 6,083 while Nifty Midcap advanced 0.78 per cent to 17,901.

Nifty 500 was up 0.41 per cent at 9,798. India VIX, the measure of volatility in the market, fell 2.22 per cent to 16.62. All sectoral indices were trading with gains on NSE.

Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG were among the biggest gainers, up 1.36 per cent to 2,503 and 1.33 per cent to 30,547, respectively.

Nifty IT, and Nifty Media were among other gainers. In the 30-share pack Sensex, HUL was the biggest gainer, up 2.23 per cent to Rs 2,265.

ONGC, NTPC and Tata Steel were among other gainers that jumped more than a per cent each. HCL Tech and HDFC Bank were the biggest losers in the pack, down 0.85 per cent and 0.81 per cent, respectively. Shares of TVS Motor Company cracked 5.81 per cent to Rs 412.10 after the company on Monday said the coronavirus outbreak has impacted the supply of certain components, thereby affecting about 10 per cent of its planned production for February. Globally, Asian share markets were trying to stabilise after a wave of early selling petered out and Wall Street futures managed a solid bounce, allowing investors to take a break from coronavirus fears. E-Mini futures for the S-P 500 bounced 1 per cent to pare some of the steep 3.35 per cent loss the cash index suffered overnight. South Korea's hard-hit market edged up 0.8 per cent and helped MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fight back to flat.