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Indian markets continued to gyrate around the flat line before finishing in the red for a third straight session on Wednesday. Weakness in IT, metal and auto scrips pulled the headline indices lower. Today, the start of the F&O series expiry session is likely to be flat-to-positive tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Some support will come with a private report that India’s economy is expected to have grown at 9.2 per cent in the fiscal ended March 2022, after having contracted by 7.3 per cent in the previous financial year, aided by resilience in the rural economy, uptick in bank credit and rising GST collections. Traders may take note of report that Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal strongly defended the government’s decision to control wheat and sugar exports, saying the steps were necessary keeping in mind the domestic requirements and a need to keep hoarders and speculators in check who could have exploited vulnerable poor nations by selling them the commodities at higher prices. However, traders may be concerned with provisional data available on the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 1,803.06 crore on May 25. Some cautiousness may come with a private report that the current price situation leaves hardly any scope for rationalisation of GST rates on goods and services. There will be some buzz in the edible oil industry stocks with a private report that India's palm oil imports could drop by nearly a fifth as now cheaper soyoil takes more market share, following Indonesia's curbs on palm oil exports and New Delhi allowing duty-free imports of soyoil. Power stocks will be in focus with report that the Ministry of Power notified that it is working on a scheme to liquidate the past dues of power distribution companies (discoms) to provide relief to the entire value chain in the power sector which has been reeling under the pressure of non-payment. There will be some reaction in jewelry industry stocks as the RBI came up with norms for facilitating physical import of gold through India International Bullion Exchange IFSC (IIBX) or similar authorised exchange by Qualified Jewellers in India. There will be some result announcements to keep the markets in action.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as Fed minutes signaled flexibility on rate hikes. Asian markets are trading mixed on Thursday as persistent concerns over global growth sapped confidence.

Back home, extending the losing run to the third consecutive day, Indian equity benchmarks ended with losses of over half percent on Wednesday, dragged by heavy selling pressure in IT, Realty and Industrials stocks. Benchmark indices opened in green as traders took some support with Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that India's exports rose to a record high of $421.8 billion during the financial year ended March 2022 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and global supply chain disruption and the shipment may surge to $1 trillion by 2030. However, key gauges failed to hold on to the gains and slipped into red terrain in late morning session, as traders turned cautious with Former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu’s statement that even though the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong, the rise in divisiveness and polarisation in the country is damaging the foundations of the nation’s growth. Markets extended losses in late afternoon deals, as some pessimism also came in with report that India was ranked at the 54th place in a global travel and tourism development index, down from 46th in 2019, but still remained on the top within South Asia. Traders also took a note EEPC India stating that export of engineering goods to CIS countries including Russia and Ukraine fell the most year-on-year during April 2022, while that to North America registered the highest growth during this period. As per the region-wise data, exports to CIS countries slumped to $25.1 million in April 2022 from $90 million in the same month last year. Also, surging global crude prices and persistent foreign capital outflows weighed on investor’ mood. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,393.45 crore, exchange data showed. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 303.35 points or 0.56% to 53,749.26 and the CNX Nifty was down by 99.35 points or 0.62% to 16,025.80.

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