Sensex Edges Higher, Nifty Holds 10,800; Indian Oil, HPCL Top Gainers On Fuel Price Hike

Ahead of Karnataka election results, the stock markets started Monday's session on a cautious note with a positive bias. The BSE Sensex rose 53 points and the Nifty added 20 points in early morning trade. Some buying was witnessed across oil & gas, pharma and realty shares however  losses in metal and IT stocks capped the upside. The Karnataka election results will be announced on Tuesday, May 15. Shares in other Asian markets held near one-month highs. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.07 per cent, on track for a third straight day of gains and within striking distance of one-month high. Japan's Nikkei tacked on 0.1 per cent while South Korea's KOSPI index climbed 0.3 per cent. Asian shares tracked signs the US and China were toning down their trade war rhetoric, while the dollar dipped again as investors wagered on a slower pace of US interest rate hikes.

Twenty seven stocks on the 50-scrip Nifty index were trading in the positive zone. Top gainers on the Nifty 50 were state-run oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum, trading with gains of at least 2 per cent each.

Petrol and diesel priced were hiked on Monday, after a gap of 19 days. With that, petrol prices in Delhi registered a fresh high in four years and eight months while diesel prices crossed Rs 66 per litre for the first time to a new all-time high.

The outcome of Karnataka assembly elections are likely to determine the fate of equity market indices (Sensex and Nifty) this week, say market experts.

The big market moving event this week "will be the Karnataka elections outcome especially BJP's performance", according to Devendra Nevgi, founder and principal partner of Delta Global Partners.

"Crude oil prices, US-Iran developments and earnings would be closely monitored," he said.

Other factors that are expected to cast a shadow on the market trajectory include the release of macroeconomic data of retail inflation (CPI), wholesale inflation (WPI), crude oil prices and other geopolitical factors, they add.

Industrial output growth fell to a five-month low of 4.4 per cent in March due to a decline in capital goods production and deceleration in mining activity and power generation, according to official data released post-market hours on Friday.Inflation data will be released later on Monday.Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,163.35 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 325.44 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

(With agency inputs)