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Indian markets ended flat on Tuesday as selling in US index futures, forced investors to book profits. Today, the markets are likely to get flat-to-positive start amid mixed global cues ahead of US CPI data later tonight. Marketmen will be looking for directional cues from Q4 earnings with stocks of L&T, Dr Reddy's, Sanofi, Godrej Consumer and Gujarat Gas on radar ahead of their results. The Karnataka assembly election may also impact sentiment as investors assess exit polls late in the day. Voting in the Karnataka polls -- a state that may set the stage for the 2024 general elections. Historically, the state has never voted the incumbent party to power in almost four decades. The counting of votes will take place on May 13. Sentiments will get a boost with continued foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1942 crore in the market on Tuesday. Some support will come with report that the free trade agreement between India and the UAE has transformed the partnership between the two countries by promoting two-way commerce at a healthy rate. Traders may take note of report that Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesdy that the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) has provided crucial support to around 664,000 families, who have received ?13,290 crore against their claims. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry‘s arm DGTR has recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of a certain type of optical fibres from China, Korea and Indonesia to protect the domestic industry from cheap inbound shipments. Besides, disbursal of claims under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), which offers death coverage due to any reason, shot up by 438 per cent in 2021-22 to 340,192, reflecting the higher number of deaths during the second wave of Covid.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday amid the ongoing stalemate in Washington over raising the U.S. debt limit and ahead of key inflation data. Asian markets are trading mixed on Wednesday after U.S. President Joe Biden and top lawmakers failed to break a deadlock on the debt ceiling crisis.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks erased all of their intra-day gains and ended flat on Tuesday on fag end profit-booking amid weak global cues. Markets made an optimistic start as traders took encouragement with Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth’s statement that Indian financial system is well protected and regulated despite the daunting global financial situation. Some solace also came as Fitch Ratings affirmed India's sovereign rating with a stable outlook and said that the country has a robust growth outlook and resilient external finances. It has affirmed the country’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. Sentiments remained positive in noon deals, as provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 2,123.76 crore on May 8, 2023. Traders took a note of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that regulators should maintain a constant vigil as ensuring ‘financial sector stability is a shared responsibility’ of the regulators. She said regulators must take appropriate and timely action to mitigate any vulnerability and strengthen financial stability. However, markets failed to hold initial gains and ended flat as traders turned cautious ahead of April inflation data and a series of Q4 corporate earnings. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank’s gold reserves increased by 34.22 tonne year-on-year to reach 794.64 tonne at March-end 2023. The Reserve Bank held 760.42 metric tonnes of gold (including gold deposits of 11.08 metric tonnes) at the March-end of 2022. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 2.92 points to 61,761.33 and the CNX Nifty was up by 1.55 points or 0.01% to 18,265.95.

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