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Indian markets surrendered early gains and finished in red for the third session on Thursday as hawkish comments from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Covid-19 surge in China kept buying sentiment in check despite largely positive global market trends. Today, domestic equity indices are likely to get pessimistic start on weak global cues. Besides, fears of economic growth slowdown coupled with the fresh Covid-19 scare continue to weigh down on the market sentiment. Traders may take note of a private report that amid a slowdown in demand for Indian goods in developed countries, India can focus on 18 products, such as insecticides, construction material, chemicals, and iron and steel, to boost its exports to developing countries where the country meets only 2.5 per cent of the demand at present. However, some support may come amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth Rs 928.63 crore on December 22, as per provisional data available on the NSE. There will be some reaction in telecom stocks with report that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has formed four task forces to recommend to the government measures that will boost the domestic telecom manufacturing ecosystem and remove the bottlenecks. Defence industry stocks will be in focus as seeking to deepen US-India military ties, the defence chiefs of the two countries have shared their assessments of the regional and global security environment and discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation and interoperability. There will be some buzz in insurance industry stocks as the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) in its annual report said over 2.25 lakh death claims due to the Covid-19 pandemic were settled by insurance companies up to March 2022. Besides, shares of the premium automobile retailer Landmark Cars will debut on the bourses today. The issue price for the IPO has been fixed at Rs 506 per share. Abans Holdings, the financial services subsidiary of Abans Group will also list shares on the BSE and NSE today. The final offer price has been fixed at Rs 270 per share. Meanwhile, in the primary market, Radiant Cash Management Services IPO will open for subscription today. The company is offering over 2.79 crore equity shares in the issue at a price band of Rs 94-99 per share.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as investors worried that data showing a resilient economy would lead the US Federal Reserve to keep hiking interest rates for longer than feared. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Friday taking the lead from losses on Wall Street while investors also looked ahead to some economic data in the region.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks extended their losing streak for the third consecutive day on Thursday defying largely positive global market trends. Benchmarks began the trade on a positive note, as traders found some solace with former Niti Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya’s statement that the Indian economy is likely to grow at over 7 per cent in the current fiscal year, and observed that the growth rate should sustain next year too provided the forthcoming Budget does not have any negative surprises. Traders took note of report that India, which has already been in talks with Russia for a rupee-rouble payment system, is now looking at expanding the rupee trade with other nations as well, including several countries in Africa, UAE and Saudi Arabia among others. However, key gauges failed to carry forward the gains and slipped into red in morning deals. Traders got cautious as pressing for the prohibition of instruments like Bitcoin, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das warned that the next financial crisis can be triggered by private cryptocurrencies, if such speculative instruments are allowed to grow. Losses got extended in early afternoon session, owing to the hawkish comments from the RBI’s MPC minutes, which suggested that a premature pause in rate tightening would be a costly policy error at this juncture. Some anxiety also came with Indian health minister Mansukh Mandaviya’s statement that COVID is not over yet. He said 'I have directed all concerned to be alert and strengthen surveillance'. Besides, as per provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,119.11 crore on December 21. But, key gauges managed to trim some losses towards the end, taking support from reports that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exuded confidence that tax revenue generation in the current fiscal year (FY23) would be sufficient to fund the additional spending of Rs 3.26 trillion, for which her ministry has sought Parliamentary approval. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 241.02 points or 0.39% to 60,826.22 and the CNX Nifty was down by 43.85 points or 0.24% to 18,155.25.