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Indian equity markets are likely to make flat to negative start on Thursday, influenced by mixed global cues following the US Federal Reserve's policy stance and growing concerns over the escalating Israel-Iran conflict. Traders likely to adopt a cautious approach ahead of Weekly F&O expiry.  However, markets may find some support amid FIIs fund inflow.

Some of the key factors to be watched:

India-UK free trade pact provides stability, predictability to business: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) brings stability and predictability for businesses in both the countries. 

PM Modi holds talks with Croatian counterpart Plenkovic: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held delegation-level talks with Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic to discuss a range of issues to boost bilateral ties.

Government will continue to support fintech industry: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a review meeting with fintech firms and assured that the government will continue to support the industry.

Sebi introduces settlement scheme for NSEL's stock brokers: Markets regulator Sebi has announced the introduction of a settlement scheme for certain stock brokers, who traded on the National Spot Exchange (NSEL) platform.

Sebi to simplify regulatory compliance for government bonds-focused FPIs: Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday decided to simplify rules and ease regulatory compliance for Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) that invest exclusively in Indian government securities (G-Secs).

On the global front: The U.S. markets ended mostly in red on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Asian markets are trading in red on Thursday, as Israel and Iran continued to attack each other, for the seventh consecutive day.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks failed to maintain the early gains and ended lower on Wednesday as investors kept a close watch on escalating developments in the Israel-Iran conflict and awaited the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 138.64 points or 0.17% to 81,444.66 and the CNX Nifty was down by 41.35 points or 0.17% to 24,812.05.

Some of the important factors in today’s trade:

Construction of national highways likely to slow by 7-10% year-on-year in FY26: CareEdge Ratings in its latest report has said that construction of national highways (NH) is expected to slow by 7-10% year-on-year to 9,500-10,200 km in current financial year (FY26), due to delays in project awarding and execution challenges. 

Foreign fund inflows: Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,482.77 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought equities worth Rs 8,207.19 crore in the previous trade. 

India remains rare bright spot in world facing growing uncertainty: Pointing to India’s steady economic performance despite ongoing global challenges, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran has said that India remains a rare ‘bright spot’ in a world facing growing uncertainty.

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