Sensex heads for 2nd day of gains; Bharti rebounds

Reuters Market Eye - The BSE Sensex gains 0.56 percent, while the broader Nifty gains 0.58 percent, heading for a second consecutive session of gains after hitting a nearly 1-1/2 month closing low on Wednesday.

Recent underperformers attracted investor attention. Tata Power Co Ltd , which fell 3.05 percent in the last three sessions, gained 1.97 percent on value buying.

Bharti Airtel Ltd gained 0.81 percent. The stock is down 8.78 percent since it posted disappointing earnings on April 29.

However, caution largely prevails ahead of the general election results due next week and investors were trimming portfolios and encashing positions, traders said.

Overseas investors sold index futures worth 3 billion rupees ($50.00 million) on Thursday, continuing their selling spree to a seventh out of eight sessions. However, they bought shares worth 3.63 billion rupees in the cash segment, provisional exchange data shows.

Asian shares mostly slumped on Friday as a tense situation in Ukraine made investors cautious, though a tame inflation report from China calmed some nerves.

(indulal.p@thomsonreuters.com/indulal.p.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)