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Indian markets tumbled towards the fag end of the trading session, and finally ended with significant losses on Friday amid selling pressure in index heavyweights - HDFC and HDFC Bank. Today, start of the new week is likely to be optimistic tracking firm global cues and Q4FY23 earnings. Investors await more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues, with UPL due to post its earnings later in the day. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 777.68 crore on May 5, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Some support will come 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. Meanwhile, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said 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. Traders may take note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation in India is slightly above the ‘tolerance limit’, and the government is taking steps to control it. She said ‘Because we took a very calibrated approach, today we have an inflation which is slightly above the tolerance limit, but which is constantly being worked at so it can be brought down’. Moreover, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will review the state of the economy amid global and domestic challenges at a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) on May 08. The 27th meeting of the high-level panel to be held here will be attended by all financial sector regulators, including RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. This would be the first meeting of the FSDC after the passage of Rs 45 lakh crore Budget for 2023-24 with greater emphasis on capital expenditure with an outlay of Rs 10,00,961 crore. There will be some reaction in agriculture related stocks with report that exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 9% to $26.3 billion in 2022-23 as compared to FY22, driven by a spike in shipment of rice, fruits and vegetables, livestock and dairy products. Also, Mankind Pharma is likely to make a stellar debut on the bourses today.

The US markets ended higher on Friday as shares of Apple surged more than 4% after upbeat results and U.S. jobs data pointed to a resilient labor market. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as investors braced for a week where U.S. inflation data will test wagers the next move in interest rates will be down.

Back home, hectic selling dragged Indian equity benchmarks to end near their intraday low points, with Sensex and Nifty closing over a percent cut, amid weak sentiments as U.S. bank contagion fears resurfaced and investors awaited the all-important U.S. jobs data that could influence the Federal Reserve's monetary policy path. After a negative start, equity benchmarks remained under selling pressure for the whole trading session. HDFC twins led losses, amid indications that the merged entity will have a lower weight in the MSCI index. Losses got intensified in the last leg of the trade, as bears tighten their grip over the Dalal Street, despite positive cues from the European markets. Traders remained cautious amid a private report predicting that the risks to earnings growth, which include the impact of the global economic slowdown, specifically on the IT sector, as well as potential delays in rural revival and the possibility of a peak in urban demand, are apparent in the market movements. On the sectoral front, chemicals companies stocks remained in watch, after the credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report has maintained a neutral outlook on the Indian chemicals sector for FY24, amid robust domestic demand, comfortable profitability and strong balance sheets. Besides, the rating agency maintained a Stable Rating Outlook on its rated chemical portfolio for FY24. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 694.96 points or 1.13% to 61,054.29 and the CNX Nifty was down by 186.80 points or 1.02% to 18,069.00.

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