Indian shares edged up on Tuesday as investors cherry-picked metal and banking stocks amid expectations of higher economic growth.
The top 30-issue Mumbai index closed up 0.11 percent at 5,932.52 points, taking gains since Thursday to 3.7 percent.
But the market breadth was slightly negative, with losing issues outpacing gainers 886 to 869 amid general wariness ahead of forthcoming large public offerings from government oil companies and national elections, due later this year. "There is a lot of hesitancy and traders expect selling at higher levels," said New Delhi-based K.K. Mittal, a portfolio manager with Escorts Mutual Fund.
Analysts expect the markets to drift sideways till a clear electoral verdict emerges.
India's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling coalition dissolved parliament last week as it seeks re-election on the back of a strong monsoon-fed economic rebound.
Leading the stocks that caught investors' fancy was ICICI Bank, India's No 2 commercial bank, which rose 3.7 percent to 345.75 rupees, after it said it will raise 30-35 billion rupees in equity to fund an aggressive expansion.
Hindalco Industries, the top aluminium maker, climbed 2.7 percent to 1,331 rupees on hopes that a booming economy will drive up demand for commodities.
Sentiment on technology issues was, however, spooked by an overnight drop in the Nasdaq Composite Index.
Infosys Technologies, the No 2 software exporter, shed 2.6 percent to 5,506.80 rupees and Wipro, the third-biggest exporter, dropped 1.9 percent to 1,600.80 rupees.