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Indian markets ended higher on Wednesday as encouraging inflation and industrial output data spurred optimism about India's growth story. Today, domestic indices are likely to extend gaining momentum with positive start following gains in global markets. Investors will be eyeing wholesale price index (WPI) data be out later in the day for more directional cues. Also, market participants will be looking ahead to the exports and imports data to be out later in the day. Some support will come with report that Indian information technology (IT) services companies, such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro, and HCLTech, have emerged as the most consistent baggers of foreign exchange. The combined forex revenue of listed IT firms was up 20.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 5.14 trillion in FY23. However, foreign fund outflows likely to dent domestic sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,631.63 crore on September 13. Traders may be concerned with a private report stating that the first quarter CPI numbers will overshoot the RBI target by as much as 60 bps while others are softer in their estimate. Meanwhile, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), India’s rice production for the 2023-24 season might drop by 2 million tonnes (mt) due to a dry August. There will be some buzz in steel industry stocks as ratings agency ICRA raised its Financial Year 2023-24 (FY24) forecast for domestic steel demand to 9-10 per cent on the back of government capital expenditure (capex). The agency, at the start of the current fiscal, had estimated demand at 7-8 per cent. Edible oil industry stocks will be in focus with report that the government is unlikely to raise the import duties on refined edible oils, despite the sharp drop in domestic prices and low-priced imports. There will be some reaction in auto parts industry stocks with a private report that India’s automobile parts industry could have a market opportunity of $3.8-5 billion by Financial Year 2029-30 (FY30) in component circularity. Adani Group stocks will be in limelight on reports that the Group is in talks with banks to refinance debt taken on to fund its purchase of Ambuja Cements.

The US markets ended mostly in green on Wednesday as the release of hot August inflation report kept bets of one more Fed rate hike alive. Asian markets are trading mostly higher on Thursday tracking positive cues from Wall Street overnight.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Wednesday’s trading session in the positive territory led by Telecom, PSU and Consumer Durables stocks. Markets started with marginal cut and stayed in a range amid weak trend in global markets and fresh foreign fund outflows. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,047.19 crore on September 12. However, markets turned positive in afternoon deals, as traders found support with data showing an ease in retail inflation and a rise in industrial output. Hitting 5-month high, India’s industrial production measured in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) jumped to 5.7 per cent in July 2023 from 3.7 per cent in June 2023. Besides, after touching a 15-month high of 7.44 per cent in July 2023, retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined to 6.83 per cent in August 2023 mainly due to softening prices of vegetables. Some optimism also came as SBI research in its latest report ‘Towards a Payroll Reporting in India’ stated that the economy has added around 5.2 crore new formal jobs between FY20 and FY23, with the net addition being 2.7 crore, citing the payroll data of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Markets continued gaining momentum in late afternoon session as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest census on foreign liabilities and assets of Indian direct investment entities for 2022-23 has showed that the United States (US) was the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, followed by Mauritius, the United Kingdom and Singapore. In case of overseas direct investment (ODI) also, Singapore, the United States and the United Kingdom were among the major destinations. Meanwhile, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that the New Delhi G20 declaration adopted by leaders has demonstrated India's great ability to be a champion of multilateralism and bring the world together on global developmental issues and conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 245.86 points or 0.37% to 67,466.99 and the CNX Nifty up by 76.80 points or 0.38% to 20,070.00.