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Indian markets closed at 11-month lows on Monday amid a global sell-off. Today, markets are likely to continue their bearish trend with negative start tracking weakness in global peers. Investors will be eyeing wholesale inflation numbers to be out later in the day for further cues. Besides that, the trade balance data will also be watched out by investors. Traders will be concerned with continued selling by foreign investors. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold Rs 4,164.01 crore worth of shares on June 13, as per provisional data available on the NSE. There will be some cautiousness as retail inflation stayed above the Reserve Bank’s upper tolerance level of 6 per cent for the fifth month in a row, though it eased to 7.04 per cent in May from April's near-eight-year high of 7.79 percent, mainly on account of softening food and fuel prices as the government as well as the RBI stepped in to control spiralling price rise by way of duty cuts and repo rate hike. However, some support may come later in the day as India Exim Bank said the country's total merchandise exports are likely to be at $117.2 billion in the first quarter of FY23, as compared to the total merchandise exports of $95.5 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Traders may take note of SBI research report stating that the Reserve Bank is much ahead of the curve in containing inflation, which appeared to have peaked, though it may go for an interest rate hike in August and October. Meanwhile, markets regulator Sebi said investment managers of an AIF (alternative investment fund) can provide investment management services to the offshore fund only by getting registered as portfolio managers. There will be some buzz in the NBFCs, HFCs stocks as Icra Ratings in a report said non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and housing finance firms witnessed an improvement in their asset quality in the fourth quarter of FY22, helped by minimal impact of Omicron variant of COVID-19 and lower slippages from restructured book. Coal industry stocks will be in focus with report that India’s coal import is likely to decline by 11.4 per cent to 186 million tonnes (MT) in the current financial year, even as the state-owned firm has issued import tenders to source the dry fuel from overseas.

The US markets ended lower on Monday as fears grow that the expected aggressive interest rate hikes by the Fed would push the economy into a recession. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Tuesday after Wall Street hits a confirmed bear market and bond yields strike a two-decade high.

Back home, extending their losing streak for second straight session, Indian benchmark indices ended the Monday’s session on disappointing note, with Sensex and Nifty breaching their crucial psychological 52,900 and 15,800 levels, respectively. Markets started the week with a sharp cut and remained under pressure throughout the session, as investors awaited inflation data later in the day, while global markets plunged over fears of aggressive policy tightening by the US Federal Reserve later this week. The market participants remained worried as RBI data showed that after rising for two consecutive weeks, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $306 million to $601.057 billion in the week ended June 3. Besides, persistent selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) dampened investors’ sentiment. FPIs have been net sellers for eight consecutive month, offloading Rs 13,888 crore worth of equities so far in June. With this, the FPIs have sold Rs 1,81,043 worth of equities so far this year. Markets were trading in deep sea of red in late afternoon session amid reports that with Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran citing the IMF forecast that the Indian economy would cross $5 trillion by 2026-27, leader P Chidambaram said the goal of a USD 5 trillion GDP appears to be a case of 'shifting goalposts' as the original target year was 2023-24. Market participants overlooked Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Anantha Nageswaran’s statement that India has shown exemplary resilience in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. He added all major activities and parameters of the economy have crossed their pre-COVID levels, and it is now enjoying macroeconomic tailwinds. Traders also paid no heed towards NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery’s statement that India's macroeconomic position relative to emerging economies appears good, and the coming decade appears promising for sustained economic growth for the country. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 1456.74 points or 2.68% to 52,846.70 and the CNX Nifty was down by 427.40 points or 2.64% to 15,774.40.

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