MUMBAI: BSE Sensex its lowest close in over a week on, its third straight day of retreat from record highs hit last week, as blue chips such as ICICI Bank fell on caution sparked by the start of a five-week long elections.

ICICI Bank provisionally fell 1.78 percent while Maruti Suzuki India ended lower 1.1 percent.

The benchmark BSE index provisionally fell 0.1 percent, to its lowest close since March 28, while the broader NSE Nifty index ended 0.01 percent higher.

Paring early losses, the BSE Sensex rose by 75.45 points in late morning trade on bouts of buying in healthcare, realty, banking, power and capital goods, despite lower Asian cues.

Value-buying on reports of Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries acquiring troubled Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, in an all-stock transaction with a total equity value of $ 3.2 billion, led smart gains in healthcare segment.

The 30-share index Sensex resumed lower at 22,355.56 and declined further to 22,319.73 later rebounded to 22,481.62 before quoting 22,434.95 at 1000hrs, showing a gain of 75.45 points or 0.34 per cent from its last close.

The NSE Nifty also quoting higher by 17.45 points or 0.26 per cent to 6,711.80 at 1000 hours.

Major gainers were - Sun Pharma 2.86 per cent, GAIL 1.13, SSLT 1.03 per cent, Larsen & Toubro 0.99 per cent, Oil & Natural Gas Corpn 0.92 per cent, Tata Steel 0.78 per cent and Tata Motors 0.78 per cent.

Most Asian stocks fell in their early trade. Key benchmark indices in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan were down 0.22 per cent to 1.34 per cent. Markets in mainland China and Thailand are closed for a holiday.

Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought shares worth net Rs 232.46 crore, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.