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After opening higher in the morning trades, the markets consolidated in the noon deals as the Nifty seemed to be stuck around the 6,050 levels. Meanwhile, the Congress-led UPA government emerged as a clear winner in the Karnataka assembly, thereby ending political uncertainty.
At 1413 hrs, the Sensex was up 62 points at 19,951, while the Nifty hovered around 6,055.
As per the preliminary poll results, the Congress is leading in 121 constituencies in Karnataka, while ruling party BJP is ahead in 39. The JDS is leading in 38 assembly constituencies. Karnataka Janata Party, led by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, is leading in about eight seats.
Karnataka Assembly has 224 seats, however the election in Periyapatna in Mysore was countermanded following the death of BJP candidate and has been put off to May 28.
In markets, the mid and the smallcap indices were trading in line with the Sensex, up 0.3% each.
In Asia, markets continued to edge higher with Japan's Nikkei average registered its highest close in nearly five years as better-than-expected trade data from China boosted sentiment. The index was up 0.7% to close at 14,286.
Shanghai Composite, Hang Seng, straits Times and Taiwan Weighted gained 0.5-1.2%.
In Europe, Demand for miners helped shares edge higher following strong Chinese trade data. CAC, DAX and FTSE gained 0.1-0.3%
Back home, among the sectoral indices, FMCG index was the top gainer, up 1% followed by IT, Realty and Oil & Gas index which were marginally in the green, up 0.1% each.
Capital Goods, power, Metal and Consumer Durables down 0.1-0.9% were the major index losers.
The top gainers among the Sensex stocks were HDFC, Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Coal India, Sterlite and TCS gaining 0.7-2.5%.
ITC and Hindustan Unilever up 1.2% each were the major gainers in the FMCG space.
Among the ones in the negative, Hero MotoCorp, Tata Steel, Jindal Steel, Bharti Airtel, L&T,BHEL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dr Reddys Lab and NTPC down 1-2% were the notable losers.
Among other stocks, Corporation Bank surged over 6% to Rs 400 after reporting a better-than-expected net profit of Rs 356 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 on back of strong growth reported by retail banking segment.
Ajanta Pharma rallied 10% to Rs 907, near its lifetime high on NSE, after the promoter were on a virtual shopping spree of company’s shares through creeping acquisition route.
Brigade Enterprises surged 8% to Rs 79 after reporting almost four-fold jump in net profit at Rs 28.39 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, on back of impressive growth in operational income.
Lupin is trading higher by around 3% to Rs 734, also its record high on NSE, ahead of fourth quarter (January-March) earnings.
RPG Life Sciences soared 20% to Rs 75 after reporting a turnaround results for the fourth quarter.
Dewan Housing Finance gained 4% to Rs 181 on reporting a more-than-double net profit at Rs 197 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013 (Q4) against profit of Rs 94 crore in a year ago quarter.
The market breadth was neutral. 947 stocks advanced while 937 stocks declined on the BSE.
