After opening with losses, the BSE benchmark Sensex recovered and was up over 275 points in late morning trade on renewed buying in a volatile market as investors tracked election results in five states, especially Uttar Pradesh.
Realty, banking, auto, IT and capital goods made gains on account of foreign capital inflows.
The 30-share index resumed lower at 17,336.64 and hovered in a range of 17,667.36 and 17,185.24 before quoting at 17,638.23 at 1117 hrs, up around 275.42 points, or nearly 1 per cent, from its last close.
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The 50-scrip NSE index Nifty was up 78 points at 5,358.35.
Counting of results is underway in five state assembly elections --— Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur.
Among them, Samajwadi Party was surging ahead in Uttar Pradesh with leads in 155 seats in the 403-member Assembly, while Akali Dal-BJP combine appeared set to retain power in Punjab as it was leading in 71 of the 117-member House.
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In Uttarakhand, a sea-saw battle was being witnessed between ruling BJP and Congress. Latest trends showed that Congress was leading in 32 seats in the 70-member Assembly and BJP followed closely with 25.
Major market gainers were DLF, SBI, Coal India, M&M, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, L&T and Jindal Steel.
Asian stock markets were weak in the early trade with steel makers among the top losers on concerns about global economic growth.
Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan shed up to 1.61 per cent.