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Indian markets ended higher on Tuesday following gains in index majors HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries despite a weak trend in global markets. Today, the benchmarks are likely to get negative start tracking weakness in global peers coupled with rising coronavirus cases. India recorded 47,264 new cases, taking to tally to 11,733,594, according to Worldometer. The death toll from the deadly infection jumped to 160,477. India has the 7th highest number of active cases globally. Maharashtra recorded 28,699 new Covid-19 cases and 132 deaths. However, some respite may come with Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur’s statement that steps taken by the government during the pandemic have helped the economy recover, and the country is expected to clock double-digit growth in the next fiscal. Separately, he said increased economic activities have resulted in higher GST collection which stood above Rs 1 lakh crore for five months in a row since October 2020. Some support may come as survey by Nasscom stated that chief executive officers (CEO) of Indian technology companies are most optimistic about the global economy, with 97 per cent believing that 2021 will be better than the difficult year of 2020. Oil and gas sector stocks will be in focus as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she would be glad to discuss the suggestion of bringing petrol and diesel under the ambit of the Goods and Services Tax at the next meeting of the GST Council. There will be some reaction in telecom stocks as India Ratings and Research said providing services like broadband connectivity, cable TV, enterprise solutions, and payment wallets is the need of the hour for telcos, and a second wave of consolidation is upon the industry. Banking stocks will be in limelight with report that non-performing assets of banks declined to Rs 5.70 lakh crore in December 2020 and the recovered amount stood at Rs 2.74 lakh crore following a slew of measures taken by the government. There will be some reaction in aviation stocks as Indian aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger flights has been extended till April 30. Meanwhile, Anupam Rsayan India (ARIL) stocks will make their stock market debut on Wednesday. The Rs 760-crore IPO was subscribed over 44 times and was sold in the price band of Rs 553-555 per share. Besides, The Rs 453 crore IPO by Barbeque Nation is set to open for subscription today. The IPO is priced between Rs 498-500 per share.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as concerns about the cost of infrastructure spending and potential tax hikes to pay for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill weighed on investors. Asian markets are trading in red on Wednesday as concerns over the world’s recovery from the pandemic weighed on investor sentiment.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended Tuesday's volatile session on a positive note with gains of over half a percent each, following gains in index majors Ultratech Cement, Indusind Bank and ICICI Bank despite a weak trend in global markets. The benchmarks made positive start and stayed in green for most part of the day, as traders took encouragement as FICCI's latest quarterly survey on manufacturing assessed recovery of the sector for Q-3 (October-December 2020-21) and pointed that it is expected to regain the lost momentum in the Q-4. However, key gauges trimmed initial gains in late morning deals, as some cautiousness came with a private report that the pandemic-induced shocks to the economy which have already shaved off 15.7 per cent of the GDP from the previous year, will delay the ambitious target of becoming the third largest economy by three years to 2031-32 now. Traders also took a note of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) statement that the government has decided to cancel its Rs 20,000 crore borrowing scheduled for March 26, 2021 on review of cash balance position. This means, the government would be borrowing Rs 20,000 crore less than its target of Rs 12.8 lakh crore announced in the Budget on February 1 for the current fiscal. However, markets regained some traction in late afternoon deals, as overall capacity utilization in manufacturing has witnessed a rise to 74 per cent as compared to 65 per cent in previous quarter. The future investment outlook, however, looks slightly better as 30 per cent respondents reported plans for capacity additions for the next six months as compared to 18 per cent in the previous quarter. Market participants overlooked a private report stating that the 'second wave' of the pandemic is delaying business normalization in the country, as coronavirus infections rise in Maharashtra and other states. The Nomura India Business Resumption Index dipped to 95.1 for the week to March 21 from 95.4 in the previous week as a result of the rising infections. Meanwhile, former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan pitched for changing the central bank's inflation target band of 2-6 per cent, saying inflation will not take off as long as the government is doing proper macroeconomic management. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 280.15 points or 0.56% to 50,051.44, while the CNX Nifty was up by 78.35 points or 0.53% to 14,814.75.