The benchmark indices closed the session on a flat note amid huge volatility, after seeing two upper circuits on Monday. The markets reported a highest ever turnover of Rs 157877.29 crore; previous highest turnover was seen on October 18, 2007. It comprised of Rs 40,130.66 crore from the NSE cash segment, Rs 1,05,985.51 crore from the NSE F&O and the balance Rs 11,761.12 crore from the BSE cash segment. 

The 50-share NSE Nifty surpassed the 4500 mark while the Sensex inched up towards the 15,000 level but did not test during the day. Both indices started the day on a positive note but immediately turned into red. Around 11 am, they started gaining strength again and touched an intraday high of 14,930.54 (up 646.33 points over previous close) & 4509.40 (up 186.25 points), respectively. But the markets lost ground after 2 pm and ended the day flat, despite positive global cues.

There was a mixed trend on the sectoral front; rate sensitives, infrastructure and metal stocks along with ONGC witnessed huge buying interest while technology, pharma, FMCG stocks along with Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel remained under pressure.

Huge trading was seen in largecap stocks, as flows were positive from FIIs. Infrastructure and rate sensitives saw huge buying interest ahead of likely boost in investment on the infrastructure. Domestic funds were booking profits at current levels, as flows were negative in technology stocks since early trade. Broader indices remained on the buyers' radar and dealers expect midcaps and smallcaps will do catch up after recent rally in largecap stocks.

The Sensex closed 17.82 points or 0.12% higher at 14,302.03 while the Nifty fell just 4.70 points or 0.11%, to settle at 4,318.45. Among the broader indices, BSE Midcap Index was up 3.6% or 153.34 points, to 4,407.82 and Smallcap Index rose 2.52% or 117.40 points, to 4,784.14.

Dipan Mehta, Member of BSE & NSE said, "Some of the players who had shorted Nifty calls prior to the election results had come to cover their positions in the early trade. So that was a one-time why we saw in the first five minutes a huge spike in the Nifty Futures and it was trading at a huge premium as well as high as 50-60 points on the cash market as well."

"Thereafter, the markets have stabilised and you have seen it moving in a kind of wide, daily range. It has gone off quite smoothly. In the last one hour, because of the sharp rise in the implied volatility, we have seen huge increases in the margins. In some instances the margins have gone up anywhere from 4-5 times from what was there on Friday. That is causing a bit of a concern on the liquidity of the brokers. There may be some pressure on the clients or at least on traders who are in the futures market to try and unwind their short positions."

Dipan Mehta sees lot of action in broader indices. He said, "The action will shift to the midcaps. One observation is that the CNX Midcap Index has just crossed its 200-day moving average yesterday or the day before after a gap of nearly a year. Some of the investors who missed out on the rally will now try and look at midcap ideas to increase their exposure to equities. So, that is one space where will see a lot of action, volumes will pick up over there and we will see some fantastic moves taking place within that segment."

Sectoral indices
The BSE Realty Index outperformed other indices and gained 380.01 points or 12.80% at 3,348.76. HDIL surged 24.94%. DLF gained 19.36% and Unitech was up 10.61%. Sobha Developers, Ansal Properties, Mahindra Life, Orbit Corporation and Parsvnath went up 10-18%.

Banking was another supportive sector following capital goods; BSE Bankex was up 519.72 points or 6.84%, to 8,118.36. Kotak Mahindra, SBI and Union Bank shot up over 11%. ICICI Bank and PNB gained 7% each. HDFC Bank rose 2.08%.

The BSE Capital Goods Index surged 6.33% or 669.39 points, to settle at 11,245.89. ABB, L&T, Siemens and BHEL gained 4-10%.
 
In the auto space, Ashok Leyland moved up 18.22%. Amtek Auto, M&M and Maruti Suzuki went up 7.7-10%. Tata Motors was up 0.88%. Respective Index gained 3.64% or 151.40 points at 4,313.90.

Among the power stocks, Torrent Power, GMR Infra, GVK Power, CESC, Reliance Power and Reliance Infrastructure shot up 6-11%. Respective Index went up 3.18% or 83.31 points, to 2,706.02.

The BSE Metal Index rose 3.02% or 275.71 points, to 9,415.92, as NALCO surged 13.8% and SAIL gained 11.10%. Jindal Steel, Tata Steel and Sterlite were up 3-9%.

However, technology stocks remained under pressure since early trade; The BSE IT Index fell 10.10% or 320.85 points, to 2,854.47.

There was a mixed trend in oil & gas space though respective index fell 3.18% or 322.58 points, to 9,812.90. HPCL, IOC, Reliance Industries, Reliance Petroleum and BPCL were down 3-8% while ONGC gained 5.34%.

Among the midcap stocks, India Infoline, Patel Engg, Aban Offshore, IVRCL Infrastructure and Simplex Infra surged 20-25%. In the smallcap space, SREI Infra, IVR Prime, Bajaj Auto Finance, Manappuram and Voltamp Transformers gained 20-25%.

Advances outnumbered declines; about 1941 shares advanced while 739 shares declined on the BSE. Nearly 440 shares remained unchanged.

Global cues
At the time of closing of Indian equities, European markets were trading strong. The FTSE went up 61 points, to 4,507. The CAC gained 45 points at 3,290 and the DAX rose 114 points, to 4,965.

Among the US futures, the Dow Jones futures gained 70 points at 8,540 and the Nasdaq futures rose 3 points, to 1,391.5.

Asian markets ended sharply higher following positive US cues. Hang Seng, Straits Times and Kospi gained 3-3.8%. Nikkei was up 2.785 and Jakarta Composite went up 4.57%. Taiwan Weighted rose 1.18% and Shanghai was up 0.9%.