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Indian markets ended lower on Wednesday after losses in rate-sensitive banking and auto shares amid weak global market trends as higher interest rate and recession fears hit investors’ sentiment. Today, the start of session is likely to be optimistic tracking firm global cues. Traders will be taking encouragement as International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that despite global uncertainty and headwinds, India continues to be a bright spot in the global economy. Some support will come as Sanjiv Bajaj, President of industry body CII said India is in a much better position to deal with the challenges related to growth and inflation. Buying by foreign investors in domestic markets likely to aid sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth Rs 758.37 crore on September 7, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Meanwhile, Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has launched an initiative -- SETU (Supporting Entrepreneurs in Transformation and Upskilling) -- to connect startups in India to US-based investors. However, there may be some cautiousness as a private report raised its estimate of India's current account deficit (CAD) as a share of the gross domestic product for 2023, citing higher commodity prices and chances of an export slowdown. There will be some buzz in consumer durable industry stocks with Crisil's report that despite increasing margin pressure, the consumer durables sector is likely to witness a double-digit volume growth, pushing its revenue up by 15-18 per cent to Rs 1 lakh crore this fiscal. According to the report, a 10-13 per cent spike in demand/volume, which will be driven by both urban and rural segments -- led mostly by the AC and refrigerator segments, though rural demand will come into play in the second half of the fiscal. Oil industry stocks will be in focus as data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry showed India's fuel demand rose 16.3% in August compared with the same month last year. It said consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 17.81 million tonnes. There will be some reaction in aviation industry stocks as Icra in its report stated that domestic airlines industry is expected to report a net loss of around Rs 15,000-17,000 crore this fiscal on account of elevated price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) and a weak rupee.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday climbed the most in roughly a month as bond yields eased, with investors shrugging off hawkish remarks made by Federal Reserve officials. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday following Wall Street’s solid rebound rally overnight in the best day since August 10 for all three averages.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks recouped most of their initial losses, but ended in the negative zone on Wednesday amid dull global cues. Key gauges made gap-down opening and remained under immense selling pressure during early deals, as traders were concerned as domestic ratings agency Icra said India's current account deficit (CAD) will widen to 5 per cent of the GDP in the September quarter due to higher merchandise trade deficit. The trade deficit has doubled to $28.7 billion for August due to a 36.8 per cent expansion in imports and a 1.2 per cent decline in export earnings. Domestic sentiments remained pessimistic, amid private report estimating that India's consumer price index (CPI) firmed to 6.9% year-on-year in August, while core inflation likely stood at 6%. However, key gauges recovered most of their lost ground and came off day’s lows in late afternoon deals, taking support from Moody's Investors Service’s statement that India's economic recovery is unlikely to be derailed by rising challenges to the global economy, higher inflation and tightening financial conditions,  and affirmed a stable outlook for the country's rating Baa3. Also, Moody's saw the Indian economy expanding by 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal compared to 8.7 per cent growth in the last financial year that ended on March 31. For 2023-24, it estimates a 6.3 per cent GDP growth. Some support also came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India's goods and services exports have already crossed $675 billion in the last fiscal year and the country is now aspiring to take international trade to $2 trillion by 2030. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 168.08 points or 0.28% to 59,028.91 and the CNX Nifty was down by 31.20 points or 0.18% to 17,624.40.

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