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Indian markets continued to rise for the third session in a row on Wednesday, with the Nifty50 coming within two points of the 17,500 mark, helped by financial, auto and IT shares. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start on the last session of fiscal year 2022 (FY22) tracking weak global sentiment. Domestic markets are likely to be volatile today on account of the monthly future & options expiry today. Investors will also watch the OPEC+ meet later today. Traders will be concerned as India Ratings lowered its GDP growth forecast for FY23 to 7-7.2 per cent, from 7.6 per cent earlier citing the rising uncertainty over Russia-Ukraine war and the resultant dampening of consumer sentiment. It said since the duration of the war continues to be uncertain, in the first scenario crude oil prices could remain elevated for three months, and in the second case for six months. Traders may take note of report that the global macroeconomic uncertainties have increased due to the Russia-Ukraine war, but it is too early to predict its impact on the Indian economy. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said India, which has received a record number of foreign direct investment during the last few years despite COVID-19 crisis, has quite a few safeguards in place to mitigate the risks from capital flows. There will be some buzz in agriculture industry stocks as Union Minister of State for Commerce Anupriya Singh Patel said India’s export of agricultural products have touched $40.87 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal and it is 25.14 percent more than the financial year. Jewellery industry stocks will be in focus as rating agency Crisil said the revenue of gold jewellery retailers is likely to increase by 12-15 per cent in 2022-23 on steady demand and sustained high prices of gold. There will be some reaction in infrastructure industry stocks as the government said that under the guidance of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), 787 new projects with an investment value of Rs 19.6 lakh crore have been brought on the Project Monitoring Group (PMG) for monitoring in FY22 and 44 projects with an investment value of Rs 1.25 lakh crore have been commissioned.

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday as Russian forces bombarded the outskirts of Kyiv, a day after promising to scale down operations. Asian markets are trading mixed on Thursday on the back of drop in oil prices.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks logged gains for the third day on Wednesday, aided by Finance, Realty and Banking stocks, amid a moderation in crudes prices after Russia hinted at de-escalation of the conflict with Ukraine. Markets made a gap-up opening and traded on a firm note throughout the day, as investors’ morale remained upbeat with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India’s sharp economic recovery post COVID-19 and Budget initiatives will help in sustaining growth momentum in the years to come. Meanwhile, she said FDI into the country during the Modi government was $500.5 billion, which is 65 per cent more than the amount received in the 10 years of the UPA government, as investors have trusted the economic management of the current regime. Some optimism also came as Sanjiv Mehta, President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), India's Free Trade Agreement with UAE, is good for all types of businesses and industries be it small scale or large scale and holds benefit for both goods and services sector. Benchmarks continued to move higher in late afternoon deals, as traders took some encouragement with Union minister Narayan Rane’s statement that the government is setting up a global market intelligence network to boost India's exports from the micro, small and medium enterprises sector. He said the Global Market Intelligence Network will act as a knowledge repository of export-related data on foreign markets and facilitate easier market access for MSME exporters. Some support also came as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that gross NPAs have reduced to Rs 7.73 lakh crore as of December 31, 2021, against Rs 10.36 lakh crore as of March 31, 2018, due to transparent recognition of stressed assets. Traders overlooked report by domestic ratings agency ICRA in which it has cut its FY23 real Gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate by a sharp 0.8 per cent to 7.2 per cent. It attributed the downward revision to elevated commodity prices and also fresh supply chain issues arising from the conflict in Ukraine. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 740.34 points or 1.28% to 58,683.99 and the CNX Nifty was up by 172.95 points or 1.00% to 17,498.25.

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