Mumbai, May 3 (IANS): Key Indian equity market indices opened higher on Tuesday, tracking the SGX Nifty that trades in Singapore, as also other peer benchmarks in the Asia Pacific region.

The sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, that had closed at 25,436.97 points on Monday, opened at 25,500.14 points. Minutes after, it was trading at 25,511.28 points, up 74.31 points, or 0.29 percent.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), against the previous close at 7,805.90 points, the 50-share Nifty opened at 7,824.80 points. Soon after, it was quoting at 7,822.15 points, up 16.25 points, or 0.21 percent.

On Monday, while the Sensex had ended 169.65 points, or 0.66 percent down, the Nifty fell 43.90 points, or 0.56 percent.

Eighteen out of the 30 Sensex shares had ended in the red, while for Nifty out of its 51 scrips now, 20 advanced and 31 declined.

"US markets ended in positive after showing a lack of direction in the start of the day. The strength was partly due to bargain hunting since traders picked up stocks at lower levels following recent weakness," Angel Broking said in an analysis, ahead of the opening bell.

"Traders are now looking forward to the release of the closely-watched monthly jobs report, which could have a significant impact on the outlook for whether the US Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its next meeting in June," the brokerage said.

In Europe, while the markets in Greece, Ireland and Britain were closed for public holidays, others ended with modest gains.

Angel Broking said this was thanks to growth in manufacturing in the Eurozone and a forward movement in the factory purchasing managers' index.