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After a flat opening, markets edged higher with the benchmark indices up half a percent each in the opening hour of trade. At 0945 hrs, the Sensex was up 138 points at 27,840 and the Nifty gained 37 points to trade at 8,361.
Also, market participants will be keeping an eye on the poll results in J&K, Jharkhand where BJP is currently leading.
In the broader markets, the mid and smallcap indices were up 0.5% each.
On the sectoral front, Metal and Oil & Gas indices were the only pockets of weakness, down 0.1% each.
The top gainers among Sensex-30 were Axis Bank, Baja Auto, BHEL, Tata Motors, Infosys, SBI and Bharti Airtel up 1-1.5%.
Meanwhile, Dr Reddys, Hindalco, Coal India, Wipro, Sesa Sterlite and ONGC down 0.5-1.3% were the notable losers in opening trades.
The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,065 stocks advanced while 502 stocks declined.
Global Markets
Asian stocks were trading mixed. Shanghai Composite lost more than 1% while Hang Seng was trading flat. Japanese markets were closed on account of a holiday.
Overnight US markets ended higher for fourth straight session boosted by strong gains in technology shares which helped offset losses in energy stocks. Sentiments were boosted on speculations that the European Central Bank is set to start buying euro government bonds and news of political stability in Greece. Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.9% and S&P 500 index gaining 0.3% ended at record-closing highs while Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%.
