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Indian equity benchmarks witnessed bloodbath on Tuesday with frontline gauges settling below their crucial 16,500 (Nifty) and 55,300 (Sensex) levels. Today, markets are likely to make weak start on weak on weak global cues, ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement.  Traders may remain concerned as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed India’s growth forecast for 2022-23 (FY23) by 80 basis points to 7.4 per cent, citing less favourable external conditions and rapid policy tightening by the central bank. In its update to the April World Economic Outlook, the IMF said that though a global recession in 2022 was ruled out with a growth estimate of 3.2 per cent, the balance of risks was squarely to the downside, driven by a wide range of factors that could adversely affect the global economic performance. Meanwhile, traders make take note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Indian rupee has strengthened against the British Pound in 2022 though it has depreciated against the US dollar.  She said global factors -- such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict, soaring crude oil prices and tightening of global financial conditions -- are the major reasons for the weakening of the Indian Rupee against the US Dollar. Defence industry stocks may be in action as the defence ministry approved the procurement of military equipment and weapons worth Rs 28,000 crore, including swarm drones and close-quarter battle carbines, to bolster the overall combat prowess of the armed forces along the northern and western borders.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as steep drop by shares of Walmart weighed on the markets. Asian markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders cautiously await the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and accompanying statement later today.

Back home, falling for the second day running, Indian equity benchmarks ended with losses of around a percent on Monday, ahead of earnings reports from several large-cap companies, with investors also bracing for a likely sharp interest rate hike in the United States this week.  Key gauges made a weak start and stayed in red for whole day, as traders got anxious with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s statement that Central government's total liabilities are seen rising to Rs 155.33 lakh crore in FY23. This would represent an increase of 12 percent over the FY22 figure of Rs 138.88 lakh crore. The Centre is set to borrow a record Rs 14.95 lakh crore on a gross basis from the market through the issuance of bonds in FY23. Some concern also came as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned sellers of domestic stocks to the tune of Rs 844.78 crore, data available with NSE suggested. However, in the afternoon deals, key indices managed to trim some losses, as traders took some support with a private report stating that India is poised to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world and an engine of global growth despite global headwinds.  Some optimism also came with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that with strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth, the country is on the path to become a $30 trillion economy in the next 30 years. He added that the country is currently $3-3.5 trillion economy and soon will achieve $5 trillion. But, markets failed to hold recovery and fell sharply in late afternoon deals, as some pessimism remained among traders with private report that while the monsoon in India is tracking at 11% above normal, the distribution is uneven across the country and could pose a threat to this year’s foodgrain production and may worsen the inflation outlook. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 497.73 points or 0.89% to 55,268.49 and the CNX Nifty was down by 147.15 points or 0.88% to 16,483.85. 

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