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Indian markets made a comeback on Wednesday after a day's breather. Gains across sectors pushed the headline indices higher, with financial, IT and oil & gas shares being the biggest movers. Today, markets are likely to continue their northward journey with yet another gap-up opening as global markets rally after US Fed's first interest rate hike in three years was announced late night on Wednesday. Traders will be taking encouragement with a private report stating that private equity and venture capital investments for the month of February 2022 were about $5.8 billion, 2.3 times the value recorded in February 2021 ($2.5 billion) and 24 per cent higher than investments in January 2022 ($4.6 billion). Some support will come as the income tax department said income tax refunds worth over Rs 1.92 lakh crore have been issued to more than 2.24 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. Traders may take note of report that apex exporters’ body FIEO has approached the government to roll out a freight subsidy scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), at least temporarily, to blunt the impact of a spike in shipping costs in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Meanwhile, the bilateral trade in goods is projected to increase from the current $60 billion to $100 billion annually within five years of the implementation of the India-UAE free trade agreement. However, there may be some cautiousness as S&P Global Ratings said large oil importers like India and Thailand will be the most affected among Asia-Pacific countries by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. There will be some buzz in power stocks as Power Minister R K Singh said electricity demand can beat all previous records and cross the 200 GW mark in March itself in view of soaring temperatures. Infrastructure industry stocks will be in limelight with report that after having dropped to a five-year low in December, the pace of national highway construction increased from 20.17 kilometres (km) a day to 24.08 km. There will be some reaction in aviation industry stocks with report that Jet fuel prices were hiked by over 18 per cent - the steepest ever increase - to all-time high levels after international oil price surged to a multi-year high. The increase - sixth straight this year - led to prices soaring past the Rs 1-lakh-per-kilolitre mark for the first time ever.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as investors shrugged off initial jitters following the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate increase and its signal that more hikes would be needed to fight inflation, ending the pandemic-era's easy monetary policy. Asian markets are trading in green on Thursday joining a rally on Wall Street overnight.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks made a strong comeback to recover the previous day's losses on Wednesday and ended with gains of around two percent, amid broad-based gains, led by Realty, Metal and Basic Materials stocks. After a gap up opening, indices showed strength throughout the session, as traders took encouragement with the Ministry of Finance’s statement that the Indian economy is well prepared to handle any capital outflows caused by external shocks. In its Monthly Economic Review report released the finance ministry's Department of Economic Affairs said India has adequate foreign exchange reserves to absorb the risks posed by the uncertain geopolitical environment. Some support also came as Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad stating that banks have effected an aggregate recovery of Rs 7.34 lakh crore, in non-performing assets and written-off loan accounts, including those reported as fraud during the past six financial years and the first six months of the current financial year (FY22). Key indices extended gains in the last hour of trade, as sentiments were further supported by the cool-off in the oil prices, and the progress on the peace talk between Russia and Ukraine conflict. Some optimism also came with Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India's (ACMA's) President Sunjay J Kapur stated that the approval granted by the government to 75 auto component manufacturers for incentives under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme will act as a catalyst in the transformational journey from a conventional industry to a mobility industry. Traders took note of report that the government said it is keeping a close watch on evolving geopolitical developments and would make calibrated interventions to keep fuel prices under control to safeguard the interest of the common man. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that Rs 53,661 crore of Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation for the current fiscal (FY22) is yet to be released to the states. This include Rs 11,563 crore to be released to Maharashtra, Rs 6,954 crore to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 6,733 crore to Tamil Nadu, Rs 5,461 crore to Delhi and Rs 4,292 crore to West Bengal. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1039.80 points or 1.86% to 56,816.65 and the CNX Nifty was up by 312.35 points or 1.87% to 16,975.35.

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