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Indian markets extended their losing streak to fourth straight session and ended with cut of over half a percent each on Thursday on account of fag end selling pressure. Today, markets are likely to extend their losing streak with gap-down opening following reports of explosions in Iran and Syria. As per a private report, Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, days after Iran launched a drone strike on Israel in response to an attack at the Iranian embassy in Syria. The report said an explosion were heard at an airport in the Iranian city of Isfahan but the cause was not immediately known. Traders will be concerned as the escalations in tensions have also resulted in a sharp surge in crude oil prices with Brent Crude back above the $90 per barrel mark in early trade. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,260.33 crore on April 18, provisional data from the NSE showed. Moreover, first phase of the Lok Sabha elections of 2024 will be on investors' radar. Traders may take note of report that Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said all necessary steps required to mitigate the fallout of the Israel-Iran conflict on India will be taken. Besides, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will delegate administrative and supervisory responsibilities of research analysts (RAs) and investment advisors (IAs) to a stock exchange along with many other non-core functions like approval of advertisements and scrutiny of applications. There will be some reaction in mining, construction equipment industry’s stocks as rating agency ICRA said the volumes of domestic mining and the construction equipment (MCE) industry may drop in the current financial year on account of a slowdown in the new project orders amidst Lok Sabha elections and monsoon-related impact on construction activities. ICRA expects FY2025 to see a 12-15 per cent year-on-year decline. This drop is following two consecutive years of strong growth of 26 per cent in FY'23 and 24 per cent in FY'24. Meanwhile, investors continue to keep close on earning of India Inc. Elecon Engineering, HDFC AMC, Hindustan Zinc, Jio Financials and Wipro to report their numbers later in the day.  Alok Industries, HDFC Bank, Ind Bank Housing, International Travel House and Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy are scheduled to announce March quarter results on Saturday. Moreover, The National Stock Exchange (NSE) announced that it will launch derivatives contracts for the Nifty Next 50 index from April 24 following approval from the Sebi, amid rising competitive pressure from rival BSE.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Thursday swinging from red to green and back as investors contended with the push-pull of a strong economy and restrictive Federal Reserve policy. Asian markets are trading lower on Friday despite Japan’s headline inflation rate came in at 2.7% in March, easing from the 2.8% recorded in February.

Back home, In a volatile session, Indian equity benchmarks failed to hold on the opening gains and ended lower for the fourth straight session on Thursday, as concerns over fading rate cut hopes and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East dampened investors' sentiment.  Markets made a positive start, as traders got support after the International Monetary Fund raised India’s FY25 GDP growth forecast by 30 bps to 6.8 percent from its January forecast of 6.5 percent, citing bullish domestic demand conditions and a rising working-age population. With this, India continues to be the fastest growing economy of the world, ahead of China's growth projection of 4.6 percent during the same period. Some support also came with UN Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) report stating that India grew by 6.7 per cent in 2023 and is expected to expand by 6.5 per cent in 2024, continuing to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world. However, markets soon erased their initial gains to trade flat in morning deals, as traders got anxious with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,468.09 crore on April 16, 2024. But, markets gained traction in early afternoon deals, taking support from industry body PHDCCI’s statement that India's economy is estimated to grow at 8-8.3 per cent in the current fiscal. It added that the country's GDP will grow at an average of 6.7 per cent over the next 23 years to become a $34.7 trillion economy by 2047, with a per capita income of $21,000. But, a sharp selloff occurred during the last hours of the trade and the markets closed in the red as some pessimism remained among traders with former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan expressing concerns regarding India's employment situation, despite the economy displaying signs of growth. He highlighted the necessity of tackling the scarcity of private sector jobs, noting the rising trend of individuals opting for government employment as a significant indicator. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 454.69 points or 0.62% to 72,488.99 and the CNX Nifty was down by 152.05 points or 0.69% points to 21,995.85.

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