Karnataka assembly election results will be announced today.
Outcome of the Karnataka elections 2018 and performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned heavily, are likely to dictate movement for Sensex and Nifty in the very short term, say experts.
Karnataka had voted for a new assembly on Saturday.
Counting of votes began early on Tuesday, May 15.
Equity markets will also take into account the latest round of macroeconomic data.
Annual consumer inflation - determined by Consumer Price Index or CPI - accelerated to 4.58 per cent in April, government data showed on Monday.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), due to hold its next policy meeting on June 6, is still widely expected to hold rates after having kept them unchanged for the fourth straight meeting in April.10:40 am: All sectors traded in the positive zone.Thirty nine stocks on the Nifty 50 were trading with gains.
On the other hand, top Nifty 50 laggards were Tata Motors, Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and ITC, down between 0.5 per cent and 1.6 per cent.10:30:Among metal stocks, JSW Steel was up nearly 3 per cent, Tata Steel and SAIL were trading around 2-2.5 per cent higher, and Hindalco Industries was up 1.4 per cent.
Vedanta was trading at a gain of 0.4 per cent.10:10 am: At 35,993, the day's highest point so far, the Sensex is only450 points away from its all-time high 36,443 - a level recorded in January this year.10:00 am: The stock markets jumped, with the BSE Sensex adding as much as364 points to touch 35,921 and the Nifty advancing98 points to hit 10,904.
Broad-based gains were witnessed led by banking and finance stocks.SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank and IndusInd Bank were trading with gains of 1-2 per cent each in morning deals.
LIC Housing Finance was up 0.8 per cent.9:55 am: The rupee also recovered to 67.55 after falling to 67.77 against the US dollar, its lowest since January 2017.
The rupee had ended at 67.51 against the US currency on Monday.9:50 am: Gains in equity markets were led by banking, metal and energy shares, with the NSE's sectoral indices trading around 1 per cent higher each.9:46 am: "First, markets could view the Karnataka election results as a litmus test of the BJP's popularity in the run-up to the next general election (scheduled for April/May 2019), but we do not share this view, because state elections are often dominated by local issues," according to Japanese brokerage Nomura.9:43 am: The rupee as well as bonds hit multi-month lows, as global crude oil prices inched up and the inflation print came in higher than expected.
The 10-year benchmark bond yield rose 7 basis points to 7.90 per cent - its highest since August 25 2015, while the rupee fell to 67.76 against the dollar, its weakest since January 31, 2017 from its previous close of 67.50.
(Read more)9:36 am: Twenty nine stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty were trading in the positive zone.
Top gainers on the NSE benchmark index were PowerGrid (up 3.2 per cent), GAIL India (up 2 per cent), Tata Steel (up 1.4 per cent), ONGC and HDFC Bank (up 1.3 per cent each).9:26 am: The stock markets reversed early losses.
The Sensex rose as much as 234 points to touch, 35,791 while the Nifty rose 64 points to 10,871.9:16 am: The stock markets started Tuesday's session on a flat note.
At 9:15 am, the BSE Sensex was down 4 points at 35,552, while the NSE Nifty was trading 11 points lower at 10,794.9:05 am: "A victory for the BJP will be received well by the market but a narrow defeat will not dent the market's optimism regarding the BJP's chances in the general elections next year.
The market has pinned its hopes on earnings recovery and largely ignored the deterioration in the macro, which may weigh on heady multiples," according to Kotak Institutional Equities.8:45 am: Shares in other Asian markets were mixed, following a choppy session overnight on Wall Street.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.16 per cent.
US stocks had earlier ended higher after a choppy session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68.24 points, or 0.27 per cent while the Nasdaq Composite added 8.43 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 7,411.32.8:30 am: On Singapore Exchange, SGX Nifty - an early indicator of domestic stock markets - was trading 14.50 points lower at 10,794.
That was a sign the markets were likely to start Tuesday's session on a cautious note.The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty had closed nearly flat on Monday amid cautious trade.8:25 am: Early leads of Karnataka elections indicated Congress and BJP were neck and neck."One can expect volatilityas results hit the TV screens.
A BJP majority is not priced in and neither is a Congress win," said VK Sharma, head private client group and capital market strategy at HDFC Securities.For the latest Election Results Live Updates from Karnataka log on to TheIndianSubcontinent.com.
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