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Indian markets ended higher on Monday as investors indulged in strong buying at several counters across various sectors. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start amid mixed global cues and a sharp rebound in crude oil prices. However, traders may take some encouragement as Fitch Ratings affirmed India's sovereign rating with a stable outlook saying the country has a robust growth outlook and resilient external finances. 'Fitch Ratings has affirmed India's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB-' with a Stable Outlook, and added that strong growth potential is a key supporting factor for the sovereign rating. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 2,123.76 crore on May 8, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Some support will come as Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth said Indian financial system is well protected and regulated despite the daunting global financial situation. Seth said ‘The Indian financial sector is well protected, well regulated but at the same time, we have to be cautious and be on our toes as soon as early warning indicators are there’. Besides, The Reserve Bank’s gold reserves increased by 34.22 tonne year-on-year to reach 794.64 tonne at March-end 2023, showed central bank data on Monday. The Reserve Bank held 760.42 metric tonnes of gold (including gold deposits of 11.08 metric tonnes) at the March-end of 2022. Traders may take note of report that traders’ body CAIT made a case for lowering the GST rate on beverages from 28 per cent, which comes to 40 per cent after inclusion of cess, arguing that it blocks the working capital of small retailers. Investors await more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues, with broader market names like Lupin, SRF, Apollo Tyres, Raymond, Godrej Agrovet due to post its earnings later in the day. The Street will also track Mankind Pharma's market debut on Tuesday. The stock can list up to 10 per cent higher over the issue price of Rs 1,080, as per ipowatch.com. in the primary market, the Rs 3,200 crore IPO of Nexus Select Trust Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) will open today and close on Thursday. The price band for the issue is fixed at Rs 95-100 per share.

The US markets ended mostly in green on Monday as investors readied for key inflation reports due later in the week. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Tuesday ahead of China’s April trade data release as well as US inflation reports later this week.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks traded with traction throughout the session and gained more than a percent on Monday boosted by heavy buying in Auto, Realty and Banking stocks amid a rally in global stock markets. Domestic bourses started the week on a buoyant note as traders took some encouragement with Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India-US partnership is at a ‘defining stage’ and the two countries will continue to work towards diversifying and deepening trade and investment ties for mutual growth and prosperity. He said that the bilateral trade between India and US has been the highest in the couple of years and is aimed to increase multifold in the coming years. Some support also came as data available with the depositories showed Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) continue to be buyers of Indian equities in May and invested Rs 10,850 crore in the last four trading sessions due to the country's stable macroeconomic environment, robust GST collection and better-than-expected corporate quarterly earnings. This came following a net infusion of Rs 11,630 crore in equities in April and Rs 7,936 crore in March. Markets extended gains in second half of trading session to settle near day’s high points, taking support from a private report that India will likely grow at a moderate pace between 6 per cent and 6.5 per cent in FY2023-24 while the global economy continues to struggle. It further noted that growth in the next year will likely pick up as investment kickstarts the virtuous circle of job creation, income, productivity, demand, and exports supported by favourable demographics in the medium term. Some solace came as the Reserve Bank of India said India’s foreign exchange reserves jumped $4.532 billion to $588.78 billion for the week ended April 28. The overall reserves had dropped $2.164 billion to $584.248 billion in the previous reporting week. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 709.96 points or 1.16% to 61,764.25 and the CNX Nifty was up by 195.40 points or 1.08% to 18,264.40.

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