The benchmark indices closed lower for the second consecutive day, but the indices remained choppy throughout the session, ahead of the big event - election results on May 16, Saturday. The markets started the trade sharply lower on the back of weak Asian and US cues, and that remained for the day despite recovery from lows of the day.

The Sensex consistently traded in the range of 11800-11900 while the Nifty struggled at the pivotal level of the 3600. The sell-off in shares of oil & gas exploration, technology, capital goods and select financials companies kept the markets under pressure. Experts believe that this volatility will remain post results as well because yesterday's exit polls results suggest that there will be a hung Parliament.

The 30-share BSE Sensex closed 146.74 points or 1.22% lower at 11,872.91 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 1.15% or 41.80 points, to settle at 3,593.45. Broader indices ended marginally higher; the BSE Midcap Index was up 15.48 points, to 3,756.93 and the Smallcap Index rose 23.94 points, to 4,244.15.

Vibhav Kapoor of IL&FS said, "The exit polls results indicated a hung parliament. Investors should be cautious as the next few days are likely to be volatile. The downside looks capped as there is lot of money waiting on the sidelines."

E Mathew, Director of Mathew Easow Fiscal Services said, "Everyone is eagerly awaiting the election results but I do feel that election results have already been factored into a great extent to the prices. There is a clear cut demarcation on the upside and on the downside; the critical support zone on the downside is between 3,480 and 3,530 and on the upside, I find that it has to decisively breakout past 3,650 and 3,700, I am sure we should get that direction some time next week."

However, KN Vaidyanathan, CEO, Alchemy Capital Management sees the current 35-40% upmove as too sharp and fast. "From a risk reward standpoint, the markets are at that point where incrementally the reward is minimal. The risk exists because fundamentals haven't changed that dramatically to back a 40-50% move. If there is a very favourable outcome in election results, then you could have a bit of euphoria which may take this another 10% or so." Going forward, he feels the market is going to be driven by global cues.

Bharti Airtel, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Sterlite, L&T, ICICI Bank, Wipro, HDFC, BHEL, Axis Bank and Infosys were real draggers in today's trade. However, there was a support from DLF, HUL, SBI, Reliance Infrastructure, Ranbaxy and BPCL.

Huge buying was seen in shipping stocks as baltic dry freight index hit new 2009 high at 2332. It was driven by continued demand for goods by China. Essar Shipping was up 17.92%. ABG Shipyard, Bharati Shipyard, GE Shipping, Mercator Lines, Shipping Corporation, Shreyas Shipping and Varun Shipping gained 3-10.6%.

Asian markets were trading lower. Hang Seng was down 3.56%. Nikkei, Straits Times, Kospi and Jakarta Composite fell 2-2.8%. Shanghai and Taiwan Weighted slipped 1.4-1.8%.