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Indian markets ended higher on Tuesday as global bond yields and the U.S. dollar continued to edge lower on dovish Fed expectations. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s October 31 meeting revealed that policy officials maintained that monetary policy had to be restrictive and had little appetite for rate cuts. Global cues remain muted, while oil prices were subdued ahead of this weekend's OPEC+ meeting. In the Middle East, Israel's government agreed to exchange 50 women and children hostages held by Hamas in Gaza for a four-day pause in fighting. Closer home, ahead of the Q2 GDP data release on November 30, domestic rating agency Icra has pegged the GDP growth at 7 per cent, while British brokerage Barclays see it at 6.8 per cent. ICRA said the Indian economy likely grew at 7 per cent in the second quarter of the ongoing financial year, higher than the Reserve Bank of India's rate-setting panel's estimation. Traders may take note of report that the Ministry of Finance (FinMin) is expecting to conclude the full financial year as projected with a strong growth performance and macroeconomic stability even as it flagged risks of demand taking a hit on fuller transmission of monetary policy, high inflation, uncertain external financial flows. India has projected a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.5 per cent for FY24. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors net offloaded shares worth Rs 455.59 crore on November 21. Traders may be concerned as the government data showed that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows in India declined 24 per cent to $20.48 billion in April-September 2023, dragged by lower inflows in computer hardware and software, telecom, auto and pharma. FDI inflows stood at $26.91 billion during the first six months of the last fiscal.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as Wall Street assessed Nvidia’s latest earnings results. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Wednesday after Chinese police arrested game-streaming company DouYu International Holdings Ltd.'s founder Chen Shaojie on unspecified charges in a tough crackdown on alleged wrongdoing.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks snapped their 2-day losing run and ended nearly half a percent higher on Tuesday as Consumer Durables, Realty and Basic Materials stocks witnessed a strong run. Markets started the session on a firm note and consolidated for most part of the day as traders took support with Moody's Investors Service’s statement that the RBI's decision to tighten norms for unsecured personal loans is credit positive because lenders will need to allocate higher capital for such loans, thus improving their loss-absorbing buffers. Sentiments remained positive with a private report stating that India Inc’s net profit as a percentage of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is just shy of reaching 5 per cent, bolstered by strong earnings growth in the second quarter of 2023-24. Markets added some gains in afternoon deals, as sentiments remained up-beat with the Retirement fund body, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in its latest ‘Provisional Estimate of Net Payroll’ data report showing that India created 1720615 new jobs in the month of September 2023 as against revised figure of 1497410 in August 2023. Traders overlooked data showing that retail inflation for agricultural labourers and rural workers rose marginally to 7.08 per cent and 6.92 per cent in October, respectively, from 6.70 per cent and 6.55 per cent respectively in September 2023 due to higher prices of certain food items. Traders also paid no heed towards a private report stating that India's real GDP growth will decline marginally to 6.3 per cent in 2024 from the 6.4 per cent estimated for 2023. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 275.62 points or 0.42% to 65,930.77 and the CNX Nifty was up by 89.40 points or 0.45% to 19,783.40.

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