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Indian markets extended their rally for a sixth straight session to hit fresh record highs on Tuesday on the back of firm global cues and a weakening dollar in overseas markets. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start of last trading session of November month amid lackluster global cues. Investors will be eyeing the Q2 gross domestic product (GDP) numbers to be out later in the day. There are expectations that India’s economic output likely slowed in July to September from a year earlier and also from the double-digit growth in the previous quarter, hurt by rising policy rates to tame inflation, weakness in the country’s manufacturing sector and widening trade gap. However, foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth Rs 1,241.57 crore on November 29, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders may take note of Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs’ statement that it is estimated that 700-900 million sq meters of built environment will need to be added to Indian cities each year to fully harness their economic potential. Besides, the Finance Ministry has called a meeting of CEOs of banks, including top six private sector lenders, on December 5 to discuss ways to promote cross-border trade in the rupee instead of the US dollar. Meanwhile, the government has lifted a ban on exports of organic broken non-basmati rice, as domestic supplies have remained steady and such varieties are barely consumed by the common people. There will be some buzz in the garment sector stocks as The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said the free trade agreement between India and the UAE is giving duty free access to the garment sector and it will help increase share of domestic exports in that country. Metal stocks will be in focus as private report stated that India's finished steel imports from Russia during April-October rose to their highest in at least four years, underscoring Moscow's bid to divert shipments in the wake of Western sanctions. There will be some reaction in pharma stocks with report that the government needs to set up a separate ministry for the pharma sector to encourage domestic producers and decrease Chinese imports. In primary market, Uniparts India’s Rs 835 crore IPO will open for subscription today. The price band is fixed at Rs 548-577.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Tuesday with losses in Apple and Amazon ahead of an upcoming speech by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that could provide hints about magnitude of future interest rate hikes. Asian markets are trading mixed on Wednesday ahead of the release of data on China’s November factory activity, in which analysts are expecting to see a contraction for the second time in a row.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended at record closing highs yet again on Tuesday, aided by an uptick in fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), Consumer Durables and Metal stocks. After the cautious start, markets gradually inched higher and continued their positive trend for whole day, amid a largely firm trend in other Asian markets. Sentiments remained optimistic as the data showed that foreign portfolio investors have infused funds worth Rs 32,344 crore in Indian stock markets so far in the month of November and became net buyers again. Some support also came in as the RBI released quarterly statistics on deposits and credit highlighting bank credit growth to 17.2 per cent on an annual basis in September from 14.2 per cent a quarter ago. However, markets cut some of the gains towards the end, as some concern came with SBI Research stating that India's economic growth for the July to September quarter may slow to 5.8 per cent, 30 basis points lower than average estimates, dragged down by weak manufacturing sector and steep corporate margin compression. But, key gauges managed to end the session at record closing highs, taking support from the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) latest report ‘Data on ECB/FCCB’ showing that Indian companies raised $1.43 billion ($1,42,99,20,622) through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in for the month of October 2022. Traders took note of report that senior officials of India and the European Union (EU) on November 28 commenced the third round of talks on a proposed free trade agreement, which aims at boosting trade and investments between the two regions. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 177.04 points or 0.28% to 62,681.84 and the CNX Nifty was up by 55.30 points or 0.30% to 18,618.05.

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