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Indian markets ended a choppy session slightly higher on Tuesday, with Axis Bank's upbeat earnings results, expectations surrounding upcoming Union Budget and a firm trend in European markets offering some support. Markets were closed on Wednesday on account of Republic Day. Today, the markets are likely to make gap-down opening, a day of the monthly expiry of January month derivatives contract. There will be some cautiousness as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India's economic growth forecast to 9 per cent for the current fiscal year ending March 31, joining a host of agencies which have downgraded their projections on concerns over the impact of a spread of new variant of coronavirus on business activity and mobility. Continues selling in FIIs may weight on the markets. As per provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 7,094.48 crore on January 25. Meanwhile, India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against imports of a certain type of tiles, used for covering the floors in residential and commercial buildings, from China, Taiwan and Vietnam following a complaint by domestic players. Gems and jewellery related stocks will be in focus as the commerce ministry said gems and jewellery exports rose by 71 per cent during April-December 2021 to $28.9 billion as compared to $16.9 billion in the same period of the previous year. In December 2021, these exports grew by 16.38 per cent to $2.99 billion. There will be some reaction in aluminium industry stocks as Arguing that growing imports of scrap is threatening the primary aluminium industry, an umbrella industry body has urged the finance minister to raise basic customs duty on aluminium scrap to 10% from 2.5% now. Besides, The Rs 3,600-crore Adani Wilmar IPO will open on Thursday (January 27, 2022), and will close on Monday (January 31). A joint venture between Adani Group and the Wilmar Group, Adani Wilmar is an FMCG food company offering most of the essential kitchen commodities. The edible oil major has fixed a price band of Rs 218-230 per share for the public issue.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Wednesday taking an abrupt nosedive that reversed earlier solid gains after the U.S. Federal Reserve released its statement at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Thursday as investors digested Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s comments.

Back home, breaking 5-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks staged a smart recovery from opening lows and closed at day's high on Tuesday, led by strong buying interest in PSU, telecom and utilities stocks. The benchmark indices had opened with a massive downside gap, as traders remained cautious after ICRA projects fiscal deficit at a higher Rs 17.9 trillion, driven by the two major outlays intended to bolster confidence amongst households, namely free food grains under the PMGKAY scheme and an enhanced outgo for MGNREGA. Some cautiousness also came as private report stated that the ongoing third wave of the coronvirus pandemic has dragged business activity almost back to the pre-pandemic levels. Traders were also worried as exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,751.58 crore on Monday. However, equity markets reversed losses during the second half of the trading session, taking support from former Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the Indian economy has recovered 'handsomely' from the pandemic-induced disruptions, while expressing hope that the recovery will be sustained and the growth rate of 7 to 8 per cent will be restored. Traders also found some solace with the commerce ministry’s statement that exports of engineering goods rose 54 per cent to $81.8 billion during April-December 2021-22 as compared to the same period of the previous year. In the corresponding nine-month period of 2020-21, exports stood at $52.9 billion. The sector accounted for over 27 per cent in India’s total exports basket during the period. Adding to the optimism, around 10.28 lakh new members joined the ESIC-run social security scheme in November 2021 against 12.39 lakh in the previous month, giving a perspective on formal sector employment in the country. The latest data is part of a report released by the National Statistical Office (NSO). Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 366.64 points or 0.64% to 57,858.15 and the CNX Nifty was up by 128.85 points or 0.75% to 17,277.95

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