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Indian markets snapped two-day losing streak and ended higher on Tuesday following buying in index major Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors and Sun Pharma amid mostly firm global markets. Today, markets are likely to extend their previous session’s gains with flat-to-positive start. Some support will come with report that India would benefit from a move of over 70 nations like the UK, UAE and Australia that have agreed to take on additional obligations in the services sector under an agreement of the WTO. These WTO (World Trade Organisation) members are taking the additional obligations under the General Agreement on Goods in Services (GATS) to ease non-goods trade among themselves and extend similar concessions to all other members of the WTO. Traders may take note of report that the borrowing cost for states continued to fall for the third week in a row, with the weighted average price falling to 7.44 per cent in the debt auction on Tuesday. The cost had remained at a two-year high throughout January sniffing at 7.8 per cent. Besides, with the recent NSSO survey 2022-23 showing a sizable fall in food consumption expenses in the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the data augurs well for the household consumption basket. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exuded confidence that India Inc will align itself to the developmental goals of the nation with an objective of making the country a developed nation or ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 on the 100th anniversary of independence. However, there may be some volatility in the today’s session ahead of key U.S. GDP and inflation readings that could shed light on the possible timing of a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut. Also, foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,509.16 crore on February 27, provisional data from the NSE showed. Metal stocks will be in focus with a private report that India's steel imports touched a six-year high in the first 10 months of the fiscal year to March, led by Chinese shipments, and India was a net importer of finished steel. Moreover, Juniper Hotels shares will make a debut on the Indian stock market today. The issue price is fixed at Rs 360.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Tuesday as weak economic data stirred expectations of an earlier-than-anticipated rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Asian markets are trading mixed on Wednesday ahead of Chinese manufacturing data due later this week.

Back home, Indian equity markets snapped their 2-days losing run and ended higher in the volatile session on Tuesday amid buying seen in Realty, Consumer Durables and TECK stocks. After making slightly negative start, markets gyrated between gains and losses for first half of the session, amid foreign fund outflows. Provisional data from the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 285.15 crore on February 26. Some cautiousness also came as India expressed serious concerns in a WTO meeting in Abu Dhabi over increase in the use of trade protectionist measures by certain countries in the name of environment protection. The remarks assume significance as the country has earlier flagged issues over the European Union's (EU) decision to impose carbon tax (a kind of import tax) on sectors such as steel and fertiliser; and adoption of deforestation regulation by the 27-nation bloc. However, in the afternoon deals, benchmark indices picked momentum to end higher, as traders took support with a private report stating that India’s real GDP growth for the December quarter is all set to come at a higher-than-anticipated 7 per cent. Traders got encouragement after the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted the rapid growth of the Start-up and Fintech sector of India, especially in the last decade, and welcomed suggestions from the FinTech leaders to achieve greater Ease of Doing Business and Ease of Living for consumers. Adding to the optimism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the world no longer feels surprised at India's achievements as it has become a new normal now and they today realise the benefit of walking alongside the country. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 305.09 points or 0.42% to 73,095.22 and the CNX Nifty was up by 76.30 points or 0.34% to 22,198.35.

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