The market is trying to shrug off the downtrend, but it could be a short-term rally that tops out at 5,620-5,700

The election verdict from the four states and one Union Territory seemed to have a positive effect on the bourses today, as after lying low for four days, the market was in fine fettle today.

Earlier, the market opened with small gains on a mixed trend in the markets across Asia. The rate hike by the People's Bank of China on Thursday weighed on sentiment. The Sensex added 26 points to its Thursday tally to open at 18,362 and the Nifty was six points higher at 5,492.

Shortly after the opening bell, selling pressure pushed the market in the negative, with the indices touching their intra-day lows. At the day's low, at a little after 9.30 am, the Sensex stood at 18,281 and the Nifty was at 5,472.

The market emerged higher after early trends of the election results started trickling in, laying aside macro-economic worries that plague the country. Overcoming initial hiccups, the market gained strength as trading progressed. Across-the-board buying support resulted in gains for all sectoral gauges.

The benchmarks touched the day's high in the noon-session with the Sensex up 389 points at 18,725 and the Nifty up 119 points at 5,605. However, the market pared some of the gains as profit booking set in at higher levels, and settled well in the green, recovering from yesterday's losses.

The Sensex closed 195 points higher at 18,531 and the Nifty settled with a gain of 59 points at 5,545. The advance-decline ratio on the National Stock Exchange was 862:518.

As the market tries to shrug off the downtrend, today's gains could lead to a short-term rally that tops out at 5,620-5,700.

The broader indices underperformed the Sensex in trade today. The BSE Mid-cap index advanced 0.85% and the BSE Small-cap index rose 0.39%.

BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods index (up 2.35%) was the top sectoral gainer. Other gainers were BSE Metal (up 1.48%), BSE Healthcare (1.40%), BSE Auto (up 1.35%) and Capital Goods (up 1.34%). There were no losers in the sectoral space.

Jaiprakash Associates (up 3.12%), ITC (up 3.10%), Hero Honda (up 2.48%), Jindal Steel (up 2.43%) and Bajaj Auto (up 2.17%) were the top performers on the Sensex. On the other hand, Reliance Communications (down 0.49%), Infosys Technologies (down 0.08%) and HDFC (down 0.05%) were the only losers on the index.

The Supreme Court today banned the production, sale and use of controversial pesticide endosulfan in the country for the next eight weeks, holding that human life is more important than anything else. The bench also directed the statutory authorities to freeze the production licences granted to the manufacturers of the controversial pesticide till its further order.

Markets in Asia settled mixed on the last trading day of the week on rate-tightening measures by the Chinese central bank. The South Korean market extended its losses despite the Bank of Korea keeping its key rate unchanged at 3%. Japanese banks were under pressure after the government said it may force lenders to forgo loans to Tokyo Electric Power, which has been saddled by a crippled nuclear power plant after the devastating earthquake and tsunami early March.

The Shanghai Composite gained 0.98%, the Hang Seng advanced 0.88%, the Jakarta Composite rose 0.61%, the KLSE Composite was up 0.55% and the Straits Times climbed 1.06%. The Nikkei 225 declined 0.70%, Seoul Composite fell 0.12% and the Taiwan Weighted lost 0.30%.

On Thursday, the inflows into equities from domestic institutional investors were offset by a pull-out of funds by foreign institutional investors. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of shares worth Rs312.44 crore, while foreign institutional investors were net sellers of stocks worth Rs420.03 crore.