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Indian markets ended a highly volatile session on a flat note on Wednesday amid unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in index heavyweight Reliance Industries. Today, domestic indices are likely to get positive start tracking gains across global markets. Investors will be eyeing on Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to be out later in the day. The weekly Nifty F&O expiry also may trigger some volatility in the trading day. Traders will be taking encouragement as the government data showed the country's gross direct tax collection rose 24.58 per cent to Rs 14.71 lakh crore till January 10 this fiscal, buoyed by an upsurge in personal income tax mop-up. After adjusting refunds, net direct tax collection stood at Rs 12.31 lakh crore, 19.55 per cent higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. Meanwhile, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said India and Japan will undertake joint projects for digital transformation in the areas of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and eco-friendly mobility. However, there may be some cautiousness as a World Economic Forum report said a cost of living crisis, digital inequality, geopolitical contest for resources, natural disasters and extreme weather events are the biggest risks for India over the short and medium term. Besides, as per provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) have net-sold shares worth Rs 3,208.15 crore, continuing selling for the 14th session in a row, on January 11. Healthcare industry stocks will be in focus as rating agency ICRA said the hospital industry is expected to post occupancy levels of 62-64 per cent in FY23 and FY24 backed by demand for elective surgeries, medical tourism and organised players improving their market share. The average revenue per occupied bed (ARPOB) is likely to grow 8-10 percent. Sah Polymers is likely to debut on the bourses. There are expectations that the stocks will debut on positive note following the better-than-expected response to its IPO. Overall the IPO was subscribed 17.5 times. Moreover, investors will be looking ahead to the quarterly earnings from some important companies like Infosys, HCL Technologies for more cues.

The US markets ended sharply higher on Wednesday as investors were optimistic ahead of an inflation report that could give the Federal Reserve room to dial back on its aggressive interest rate hikes. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday as investors look ahead to the US consumer price index report.

Back home, Indian equity markets, after swinging between the red and green zones, ended flat with negative bias on Wednesday as investors turned cautious as the focus shifts to key December inflation data to be announced on Thursday. For the most part of the session, the benchmark indices kept treading around the neutral lines, as traders were concerned as the World Bank slashed its 2023 growth forecasts to levels teetering on the brink of recession for many countries as the impact of central bank rate hikes intensifies, Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, and the world’s major economic engines sputter. It expected global GDP growth of 1.7% in 2023, the slowest pace outside the 2009 and 2020 recessions since 1993. In its previous Global Economic Prospects report in June 2022, the bank had forecast 2023 global growth at 3.0%. Some cautiousness also came in the markets as a private report stated that private equity investments into domestic companies fell sharply year-on-year by 42 per cent to $23.3 billion in 2022, which is the lowest since 2019, when it was $15.8 billion. The numbers reflect the overall funding winter that the startup space in particular, and the overall foreign investments in general have been witnessing since the Ukraine war began last February. However, losses were limited as traders took some support with Ministry of Commerce and Industry joint secretary M Balaji’s statement that the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed between India and Australia would provide immediate market access at zero duty accounting 96.4 per cent of India’s exports in value terms to Australia.  He said the ECTA has the potential to double bilateral ties between the two countries to $50 billion over the next five years. Traders also took a note of private report that the central government is likely to further consolidate its fiscal deficit by 50 basis points (bps) to 5.9 per cent in FY24 from 6.4 per cent in FY23. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest report has showed that India Inc raised $5.20 billion via external commercial borrowings (ECBs) during November 2022 as against $1.43 billion in October 2022, higher by 3.63 times. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 9.98 points or 0.02% to 60,105.50 and the CNX Nifty was down by 18.45 points or 0.10% to 17,895.70.

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