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Indian markets ended volatile session slightly in green on Wednesday as weakness in financial stocks offset strength in auto, FMCG and energy shares. Today, domestic indices are likely to make gap-up opening tracking broadly positive cues from global peers. Overnight in the US, the Fed kept its interest rates unchanged and stuck on its promise of three rate cuts in the current calendar year. Some support will come after CareEdge Ratings said India’s economic activity likely hit a nine-month high in February, despite rural demand remaining weak and unemployment rising, thanks to a sharp expansion in exports, imports and corporate bond issuances. The CareEdge Economic Meter, a composite index covering 18 high-frequency economic indicators to track the state of the economy, suggested a 10.3% year-on-year uptick in activity levels. Traders may take note of India's executive director at International Monetary Fund (IMF) Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian’s statement that India needs to grow at 8 per cent on sustained basis to create sufficient jobs to reduce poverty and inequality. India's economy grew by better-than-expected 8.4 per cent in the final three months of 2023 - the fastest pace in one-and-half years. He said ‘We should be impatient even if we grow at 7 per cent. We should be looking to grow at 8 per cent and above, as the country needs to create a lot of infrastructure’. However, some cautiousness may come amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,599.19 crore on March 20, provisional data from the NSE showed. Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will lead the world in AI capabilities, and exhorted young entrepreneurs and startups to work on 'Indian solutions for global applications' to solve challenges faced by nations across the world. Metal stocks will be in focus with a private report that Indian sponge iron producers have urged the government to impose duties on exports of low-grade iron ore to stave off shortages of the main raw material in the world's second-biggest crude steel producer. Meanwhile, Krystal Integrated Services will make its market debut today against an issue price of Rs 715 per share.

The US markets ended in green on Wednesday as the US Federal Reserve kept its forecast for three rate cuts this year unchanged, while delivering a status quo outcome on the key interest rate. Asian markets are trading higher on Thursday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

Back home, Indian equity markets ended with marginal gains in the volatile session on Wednesday as investors across the globe remained in a cautious mood ahead of a key interest rate decision in the world's largest economy due later in the day. After the initial uptick, markets turned lower as traders got cautious with the Reserve Bank of India’s data in the March 2024 bulletin showing that the net foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, inflows minus outflows, declined 38.4 per cent year-on-year to $15.41 billion in the first 10 months of this financial year due to an increase in the repatriation of capital. As per the data, FDI in India was $25.53 billion and outflows were $10.11 billion in April 2023-January 2024. However, markets recouped early morning losses to trade in green in afternoon deals, as traders took support with an article on the ‘State of Economy’ published in the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) March Bulletin showing that India can sustain 8 per cent annual GDP growth and the conducive macroeconomic configuration may become a launching pad for a step-up in the country’s growth trajectory. Some support also came with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stating that the provisional figures of net direct tax collections registered a growth of 19.88 per cent to Rs 18,90,259 crore for the financial year 2023-24 (as of March 17, 2024) as compared to Rs 15,76,776 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year (FY 2022–23), on higher advance tax mop-up. Key gauges trimmed some gains in final minutes of trade but managed to end with mild gains supported by gains in heavyweight stocks like Maruti Suzuki, Power Grid Corporation and Nestle. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 89.64 points or 0.12% to 72,101.69 and the CNX Nifty was up by 21.65 points or 0.10% to 21,839.10.

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