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Indian markets ended lower on Friday amidst concerns regarding monetary policy actions by key central banks worldwide. RBI's hawkish commentary also weighed on sentiment. Today, markets are likely to get positive start of new week as investors await the retail inflation print for May and April's IIP data, slated to be released later in the day. There are expectations that May consumer price inflation to have cooled down as rise in food prices continued to slow. Latest reports on progress of the monsoon may also influence markets. Some support will come as Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran said that the government is on the same page with the Reserve Bank of India on the GDP growth forecast for the current financial year which is 6.5 per cent. Also, Country’s largest commercial lender State Bank of India (SBI) said that domestic GDP growth is now on firm footing with urban demand showing good traction, while the lagging rural demand is a cause of concern. The bank has also revised GDP growth marginally upwards from 6.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent for the current financial year. Traders will be taking encouragement as the Reserve Bank said India’s forex kitty jumped $5.929 billion to $595.067 billion for the week ended June 2. The reserves had dropped for two consecutive weeks and declined by $4.34 billion to $589.14 billion in the previous reporting week. However, foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold shares worth net Rs 308.97 crore on June 9, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. Meanwhile, Moody’s said the Indian economy is expected to clock a 6-6.3 per cent growth in June quarter, and flagged risks of fiscal slippage arising from weaker-than-expected government revenues in the current fiscal. Moody’s growth estimate is lower than the 8 per cent projection for the first quarter made by the Reserve Bank last week.

The US markets ended higher on Friday as investors looked ahead to key inflation data and the Fed's latest policy announcement. Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday as investors awaited cues from the Fed and ECB meetings. 

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for the second consecutive session on Friday as traders remained on sidelines ahead of macro-economic data -- industrial production and retail inflation -- to be release on June 12.  After making a cautious start, markets started drifting as the day progressed, as traders were cautious with private report stating that hiring activities have slowed down by 7 per cent in May compared to the same month last year mainly due to companies adopting cautious approach to cut expenses on the back of economic slowdown. Some concern also came amid a private report stating that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may not cut the key lending rate before February unless inflation falls sharply or a global crisis unfolds. Markets failed to take solace with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the RBI has decided to widen the scope of the framework for resolution of stressed assets, under which all the regulated entities including cooperative lenders will now be able to execute ‘compromise settlements and technical write-offs’ to resolve non-performing assets (NPAs). Traders also overlooked Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India’s (ASSOCHAM) report stating that the Reserve Bank of India's decision to keep the benchmark interest rates unchanged is on the expected lines, and added that the focus of the monetary policy is clearly on further taming inflation for a stable growth. Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) S C Aggarwal said that a robust and easy trade finance ecosystem is important for India to achieve the $2 trillion exports target by 2030. He stated Easy availability of affordable trade finance helps promote export competitiveness. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 223.01 points or 0.35% to 62,625.63 and the CNX Nifty was down by 71.15 points or 0.38% to 18,563.40.

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