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Indian markets ended flat in a volatile session on Tuesday as profit booking erased all the intraday gains to close with little change. Today, markets are likely to open in red amid lackluster global cues. Some volatility may occur as the monthly F&O expiry for January derivatives contracts will keep investors occupied. Traders will be concerned as foreign institutional investors (FII) have net sold shares worth Rs 760.51 crore on January 24, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Market sentiments may continue to remain sluggish as Christian de Guzman - senior vice-president at Moody's Investors Service and primary analyst for India said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen declining to 5.6 percent in 2023-24, although it will still be one of the best performing large economies in the G-20. Traders may take note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that in the talks for the proposed free trade agreement between India and the UK, the focus is on what is acceptable to both countries and not allow sensitive issues to scuttle the discussions. He also said that student visas are never part of a free trade agreement (FTA). Sugar industry stocks will be in focus as Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah assured leaders from Maharashtra that the Centre would soon increase the export quota sugar and take steps to help the ailing sugar industry in the state. There will be some reaction in oil industry stocks as FICCI said that the government should scrap the windfall profit tax on domestically produced crude oil as the levy is adversely impacting the capex-intensive exploration of oil and gas. Investors await more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues, with Bajaj Auto, Cipla, Dr Reddy's and Tata Motors due to post their earnings later in the day.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Tuesday amid mixed earnings and a technical malfunction at the opening bell. Asian markets are trading mixed on Wednesday taking the lead from Wall Street’s struggle for direction.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended flat in volatile session on Tuesday, on profit booking ahead of the derivative expiry. Investors also awaited cues from the Union Budget due to be unveiled next week. Key gauges opened higher and managed to trade in green in first half, as traders got support with economic think-tank NCAER stating that business confidence has recovered from the lows of the pre-pandemic (2019-20) and the following two pandemic years. The NCAER-NSE Business Confidence Index (BCI) was higher at 126.6 in the third quarter of 2022-23 than the year-ago level of 124.4. Some optimism also came with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the country's services exports are doing extremely well and going by the current trend these outbound shipments would register about 20 per cent growth in this fiscal (FY23) and cross the $300 billion target despite global economic uncertainties. However, markets erased their initial gains in late afternoon deals and ended flat as traders turned cautious with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in its latest data showing that Investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes slightly dropped to Rs 96,292 crore at the end of December 2022 from the preceding month on higher valuation of domestic markets. Some anxiety also came after Christian de Guzman - senior vice president at Moody's Investors Service and primary analyst for India said that India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is seen declining to 5.6 percent in 2023-24, although it will still be one of the best performing large economies in the G-20. Besides, provisional data available on the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) have net-sold shares worth Rs 219.87 crore on January 23, 2023. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 37.08 points or 0.06% to 60,978.75 and the CNX Nifty was down by 0.25 points to 18,118.30.

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