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Indian markets squandered most of the day’s gains in last-hour selling on Tuesday and closed with modest gains for a third session in a row. Today, markets are likely to open in green terrain tracking positive global cues as tensions in the Middle-East (Israel-Iran) eased. Traders continue to take support with report that India's business activity expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 14 years this month thanks to robust demand, also the report showed easing input inflation and positive jobs growth. Sentiments will get a boost with a private report that India's GDP growth is likely to average 7% from 2024-25 to 2029-30. Traders may take note of report that the government is formulating action plans for as many as 20 agricultural products including banana, mangoes, potato and baby corn with a view to further boost export of these commodities. Additional Secretary in the department of commerce Rajesh Agarwal said the action for each of these products is likely to be ready in the next 3-4 months. However, there may be some cautiousness ahead of monthly F&O expiry tomorrow. Traders may be concerned as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest bulletin said that extreme weather events along with prolonged geopolitical tensions could pose a risk to India’s inflation trajectory, even as growth in the South Asian nation exhibits an uptrend. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments in markets. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 3,044.54 crore on April 23, provisional data from the NSE showed. Oil prices rose in early trade on Wednesday, may add pressure on the markets. Oil prices rose after industry data showed a surprise drop in U.S. crude stocks last week, a positive sign for demand, and attention shifted away from hostilities in the Middle East. Some pessimism may come as the net foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, inflows minus the outflows, dropped sharply by 45.5 per cent in the 11 months of Financial Year 2024 (April 2023 to February 2024), when compared with the same period a year ago due to a rise in repatriation of capital. Telecom industry stocks will be in focus as data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed that the telecom sector witnessed a 1.88 per cent sequential growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR), reaching Rs 67,835 crore in the third quarter (October-December) of FY24. On the earnings front, Axis Bank, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), 5Paisa, AU Small Finance Bank, Dalmia Bharat, DCB Bank, Equitas Small Finance Bank, Indian Hotels, Macrotech Developers (Lodha), LTIMindtree, Nitin Fire Protection, OFSS and Syngene International are among the notable companies scheduled to announce Q4FY24 numbers today.

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday following positive earnings from top-tier companies and as investors were focused on quarterly results from Magnificent Seven and other megacap growth stocks. Asian markets are trading in green on Wednesday, following Wall Street's continued rally for a second straight day.

Back home, Indian equity markets gave up most of their gains in the fag-end but managed to end with marginal gains on Tuesday backed by strong global cues. Markets made a positive start and remained in range-bound throughout the session, as traders took some support with Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the Modi government has provided a corruption free regime in the last 10 years and the country in the next few years will become the world's third largest economy. Sentiments remained positive with a survey showing that India's business activity expanded at its fastest pace in nearly 14 years in the month of April thanks to robust demand. It also showed easing input inflation and positive jobs growth. That suggests India is well placed to remain the fastest growing major economy this year after posting strong expansion over the past few quarters. HSBC's flash India Composite purchasing managers' Index INPMCF=ECI, compiled by S&P Global, rose to 62.2 this month from March's final reading of 61.8. The reading has been consistently above the 50-mark separating expansion from contraction since August 2021. Sentiments remained positive in late afternoon deals, taking support from RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Shashanka Bhide’s statement that sustaining the economic growth momentum of 7 per cent in 2024-25 and beyond is feasible on the back of favorable monsoon, higher farm productivity and improved global trade. Traders also took a note of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that reverse migration has started in which a lot of people, who have a global footprint, are finding businesses, professions and careers to be built in India. She said ‘Ideally, India should be a country which is worth for our grandchildren to stay and live and lead their lives and contribute for the country rather than run away from here because opportunities, job satisfaction, career enhancement, are better there and not here.' However, markets pared some gains in final minutes of trade as traders remained on sidelines ahead of key updates on U.S. inflation and corporate earnings this week. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 89.83 points or 0.12% to 73,738.45 and the CNX Nifty was up by 31.60 points or 0.14% points to 22,368.00.

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