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Indian markets ended at fresh record highs on Monday as investors welcomed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s decisive electoral victories in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Today, markets likely to continue gaining momentum with flat-to-positive start amid foreign fund inflows. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 2,073.21 crore on December 4. Investors will be eyeing Services PMI data for the month of November to be out later in the day for more directional cues. Sentiments will get a boost as Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said India will become a $5 trillion economy early in the ‘Amrit Kaal’ on the path to achieve the goal of becoming an advanced economy by 2047. He added the $5 trillion milestone will be crossed with the help of a strong rupee which will result from macroeconomic stability. Some support will come as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the GST collection has been showing an upward trend on an annual basis since its rollout on July 1, 2017, and the average gross monthly mop-up in the current fiscal so far is Rs 1.66 lakh crore. She said the GST collection crossed Rs 1.50 lakh crore mark in every month of the current fiscal and had touched a record high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in April 2023. However, there may be some cautiousness as a report by State Bank of India (SBI) noted that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is unlikely to cut the benchmark repo rate which is at 6.5 per cent now before Q2FY25 under any circumstances. It added the central bank will maintain status quo in the upcoming monetary policy, which will be announced on December 8. Traders may take note of a private report that bank loans to non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) increased 22.1 per cent year-on-year in October, and their exposure to the sector was Rs 14.8 trillion in October 2023. Real estate industry stocks will be in focus with a private report that real estate pre-sales in India are estimated to grow by 30 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) in 2023-24 (FY24), driven by sustenance sales as launches were subdued for most companies. There will be some reaction in metal stocks as Icra stated that the primary steel industry is likely to experience a challenging environment during the second half of FY24 amid increased input cost and weakening steel prices. It noted that the overall industry's operating profit margins in H2 FY2024 are expected to be lower compared to H1 FY2024, largely driven by weaker profitability from the blast furnace operators.

The US markets ended lower on Monday as investors turned cautious ahead of employment data due this week that could alter expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates early next year. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Tuesday as investors assessed inflation data from South Korea and Tokyo in Japan.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks settled at fresh record closing high levels on Monday, marking the fifth straight day of gains as the BJP's victory in assembly polls in three states boosted investor sentiment. Key gauges opened with a huge gap up and strengthened further as the day progressed as traders took encouragement with the finance ministry stating that GST collections jumped 15 per cent to nearly Rs 1.68 lakh crore in November on increased domestic activity and festive season buying. Some support came in with report that after turning net sellers in the past two months, FPIs again made a comeback in the Indian stock markets in November and pumped in Rs 9,000 crore amid fall in US treasury bond yields and the resilience of the domestic market. Some optimism also came with the latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showing that India's foreign exchange reserves increased by $2.54 billion to $597.94 billion for the week ending November 24. Markets extended their gains in late afternoon session and closed around the highs for the day, as sentiments remained up-beat with Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that India’s focus on infrastructure is empowering the economy and giving it a fillip. He said massive investments both from the government and from the private sector, directed towards infrastructure are boosting the infrastructural capabilities of the country. Additional support came amid reports that the Reserve Bank is likely to maintain the status quo on the short-term interest rate in its monetary policy review later this week, with inflation staying in comfort zone and economic growth moving at an accelerated pace. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1383.93 points or 2.05% to 68,865.12 and the CNX Nifty was up by 418.90 points or 2.07% to 20,686.80.

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