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Indian markets fell for a second straight day on Wednesday. Gains in oil & gas and automobile shares were offset by losses in financial and metal scrips. Today, markets are likely to open in the negative territory on the weekly F&O expiry day amid weakness in the global peers. Market participants will be awaiting the last leg of quarterly numbers from India Inc for cues. However, some respite may come later in the day as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das exuded confidence in the economy clipping at the projected 9.5 per cent growth this fiscal, stating that growth impulses and the fast-moving economic indicators are strong. Crediting the many measures taken by the government and the RBI for the faster-than-expected recovery so far, Das said the fiscal and taxation reforms especially have played key role in driving growth and reviving confidence. Meanwhile, the central government increased the procurement price of all three categories of ethanol produced from different sources by 1.27-2.55 per cent for the 2021-22 season, which begins from December 1. Auto stocks will be in focus as Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the government is working on measures to increase the sales of electric vehicles and in the next two years the cost of EVs in India will drop to the level of petrol vehicles. There will be some reaction in sugar stocks as trade body AISTA said sugar mills have exported 2.76 lakh tonnes of sugar in the last 40 days of the current marketing year with maximum shipments to the UAE. Oil & gas sector stocks will be in limelight as Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said bringing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under the single national GST regime will reduce taxes on these products and increase the revenue of both the Centre and states.

The US markets closed lower on Wednesday as investor risk appetitive was curbed by surging consumer prices, which stoked worries of a protracted wave of hot inflation. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Thursday as inflation fears flare after data overnight showed US consumer prices surged at the fastest pace since 1990 last month, boosting the case for faster Federal Reserve policy tightening.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks recovered most of their intraday losses but ended marginally in red amid subdued global cues and persistent selling by foreign funds. Key gauges made a gap-down opening, as traders got anxious with Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj’s statement that excise duty cut on diesel and petrol prices will burden the government's coffers, but it has no plans to increase the borrowing immediately. Foreign fund outflow also weighted down on the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,445.25 crore on November 9, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders remained cautious with private report stated that hiring demand witnessed a dip of three per cent in October sequentially, mainly due to a decline in recruitment of professionals in purchase, logistics and supply chain after festive hiring hikes in September. However, markets came off intraday low levels in late afternoon trading, as traders took some support with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country is poised to achieve a services export target of $1 trillion by the year 2030. He added that the sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes around 40 percent to India’s total global exports. Traders also took a note of report that the borrowing cost for the states has declined sharply to 6.81 percent at the weekly auctions held on November 9, mainly because they raised shorter tenor funds and 37 percent less than notified. Last week, the cost of debt for three states had peaked to the highest this fiscal at 7.02 per cent, up 12 bps over the previous week, despite most of the notified states drawing down less or not participating in the auctions. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 80.63 points or 0.13% to 60,352.82 and the CNX Nifty was down by 31.90 points or 0.18% to 18,017.20.

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