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Indian markets reversed sharp gains in a choppy session on Friday, dragged by financial and auto stock, though IT, pharma and consumer shares lent prevented deeper losses. Today, the markets are likely to start session on positive note taking cues from global markets. Markets will be looking ahead to the FY23 Economic Survey that the government will table at noon today, ahead of the Union Budget on Tuesday. The Economic Survey will be tabled in Parliament, a day ahead of the Union Budget, to present the state of the economy and suggest policy prescriptions. This time, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table the Economic Survey for 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha after the President's Address to both Houses of Parliament. Investors will be eyeing India's GDP growth and core infra output to be announced today after market hours. Traders will be taking encouragement with a survey by industry body Ficci showing a sharp improvement in manufacturing outlook in Q3 (October-December 2021-22) after some revival in the first half of 2021-22, but hiring outlook remained subdued. Some support will also come as RBI data showed bank credit grew 8.01 per cent to Rs 115 lakh crore and deposits rose 9.28 per cent to Rs 159.83 lakh crore in the fortnight ended January 14. In the fortnight ended January 15, 2021, bank credit stood at Rs 106.43 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 146.25 lakh crore, as per the RBI’s Scheduled Banks’ Statement of Position in India as on January 14, 2022, released on Friday. Meanwhile, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by $678 million to $634.287 billion in the week ended January 21, according to RBI data. In the previous week ended January 14, the reserves had increased by $2.229 billion to $634.965 billion. It touched a lifetime high of $642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021. Metal stocks will be in focus as worldsteel stated that India's crude steel production rose by nearly 18 per cent to 118 million tonne (MT) in 2021, while world leader China recorded a 3 per cent decline to 1 032.8 MT. There will  be some buzz in the fertilizer industry stocks with a report that India is likely to set aside about 3 trillion rupees ($40 billion) on food and fertiliser subsidies in its budget next week for 2022/23, roughly the same amount the government budgeted for this fiscal year ending in March.

The US markets ended higher on Friday amid some bargain hunting. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday amid mixed reports on US jobs and manufacturing while surging oil prices added to worries over inflation.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks wiped out all gains and ended flat with negative bias on Friday triggered by a late sell-off mainly in Banking, Auto and Finance shares. The benchmark indices opened fairly positive and stayed in green for most part of the day, as traders took some encouragement with the commerce ministry’s statement that India’s electronic goods exports surged by 49 percent to $11 billion during April-December 2021 as against $7.4 billion recorded in the corresponding period of last year. In 2020-21, the exports stood at $11.11 billion. Sentiments were upbeat as Deputy Governor Michael Patra stated that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remains committed to revive and sustain growth and continue to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy, while ensuring that inflation remains within target. Traders took note of report that the Income Tax department said it has issued refunds worth Rs 1.62 lakh crore to more than 1.79 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. The frontline indices were firm in noon deals, taking support from Deputy Governor Michael Patra, addressing criticism of the RBI being ‘behind the curve’ by continuing with the accommodative stance longer than other countries, said the approach has served us well. He also said India is placed ''much better'' to deal with future waves of the pandemic as compared to being affected the worst in the first after the nationwide lockdown. However, the key indices erased entire day's gains, and slipped into red for a brief moment as investors preferred to lighten positions ahead of the weekend and the upcoming Union Budget. Meanwhile, India has initiated an anti-dumping probe against 'Ursodeoxvcholic Acid', used in the medical field, imported from China and Korea following a complaint by a domestic player. Arch Pharmalabs has filed an application before the directorate for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of the duty. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 76.71 points or 0.13% to 57,200.23 and the CNX Nifty was down by 8.20 points or 0.05% to 17,101.95

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