Chief election commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath said Lok Sabh elections 2014 would be held in nine phases from April 7 to May 12, 2014. The first phase will begin on April 7 followed by 9th, 10th, 12th, 17th, 24th, 30th of the same month and then May 7 and the last phase of elections will take place on May 9. Counting for the same will be held on May 16, he added.

India’s HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) improved to eight-month high at 48.8 in February as against 48.3 in previous month. India HSBC Composite PMI too increased to 50.3 as against 49.6 during the same period.

Low-cost airline SpiceJet announced a major top-management reshuffle on Tuesday. The troubled airline, which triggered a fare war in the Indian skies over the past few months, has re-appointed R Neelakantan as CFO. Neelakantan served as SpiceJet’s chief financial officer from November 2010 to February 2013, and is returning to this role after serving as the Head of Internal Audit for the Sun Group (of which SpiceJet is a part) in the interim period. The move follows after the current CFO Sam Issac quit the airline, apparently over differences on operational policy, said media reports.

Market analysts are talking about the Nifty breaching its all-time high of 6415.25 seen on December 9, 2013, a day after the equity market gather momentum on eased Ukraine woes. However, 6320 provides strong resistance to the market, says Tushar Mahajan, Head of Listed Futures & Options, Nomura. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Mahajan says that the Bank Nifty too has strong resistance at 10,900.

“Until the market doesn’t breach and sustain these resistances, the Nifty is unlikely to see its all-time high,??? says Mahajan. The trade strategy right now, Mahajan advises, is to buy 6400 Calls and 6100 Puts. “The implied vols are very cheap and there is going to be a lot of noise of elections. So whichever direction you play, play via Options,??? explains Mahajan who believes that now is the time for beta play than defensive play.

The Sensex climbed 64.82 points to 21274.55 and the Nifty rose 20.85 points to 6318.80. The broader markets outperformed benchmarks with the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices gaining 0.8 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. About 1173 shares have advanced, 515 shares declined, and 78 shares are unchanged. Dr Reddy’s Labs and Sun Pharma, which were only losers in the Sensex in previous session, rebounded with 1.5 percent and 0.9 percent gains, respectively.

Sharemarkets of Infosys, TCS, ONGC, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Wipro, State Bank of India, Cipla and Hindustan Unilever gained 0.4-1 percent. Maruti Suzuki advanced 1 percent as brokerage house CLSA added the stock to its high conviction buy list with a target price of Rs 2,350 apiece. It sees potential of 85 percent return over three years and set three-year target of Rs 3,100 apiece on the stock, citing new export strategy to boost volumes strongly and well-positioned to defend strong market share.