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Indian markets ended lower for fifth straight session on Wednesday as broad-based selling hurt sentiment. Today, bears likely to continue their dominance on Dalal Street. Sensex and Nifty may start session in red tracking sell-off in the global markets as Alphabet shares slid after the Google parent posted disappointing earnings and as U.S. Treasury yields rose, reviving fears that interest rates could stay higher for longer. Also, traders likely to remain on sidelines amid worries that rising US bond yield may result in more fund outflows from India. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 4,236.60 crore on October 25. Traders may take note of Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which is being promoted by the central bank, can play an important role in cross-border payments without much difficulty. He said the Reserve Bank has undertaken pilot projects with regard to promotion of the CBDC and the results have been excellent. The CBDC as a pilot was introduced in the wholesale and retail segments and will now be extended to overnight money markets. Meanwhile, in a move to strengthen governance in private sector banks and wholly-owned subsidiaries of foreign banks, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed them to have at least two whole time directors. Coal and power industry stocks will be in focus as the Union power ministry directed imported coal-based (ICB) units to run till June 2024 and all power generating companies to import coal up to 6 per cent of their requirements till March 2024. There will be some reaction in fertilizer industry stocks as the Cabinet approved Nutrients Based Subsidy (NBS) rates for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilisers for the rabi season (October - March) 2023-24 at Rs 22,303 crore. This represents a 57% decline compared to previous year thanks to a fall in the global prices of the soil nutrients. Meanwhile, IRM Energy's listing will be eyed. The issue price is fixed at Rs 505 apiece. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday with interest rate sensitive megacaps weighing heavily the tech-laden index. Asian markets are trading in red on Thursday as investors parsed data that showed the economy grew at a slightly higher-than-expected pace in the third quarter. Back home, falling for the fifth day running, Indian equity benchmarks ended with losses of around a percent on Wednesday as the uncertainties associated with the Israel-Hamas conflict continue to weigh on markets. Key gauges opened mildly in the green as traders took support with the provisional data available on the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) added shares worth net Rs 252.25 crore on October 23, 2023. Some support also came with a finance ministry report stating that India will remain the fastest-growing major economy in the world in 2023-24 fiscal on the back of strong domestic fundamentals and benign inflation expectations. The report emphasised that India’s macroeconomic outlook for fiscal 2023-24 is bright and is solidly underpinned by strong domestic fundamentals. However, markets unable to sustain gains and entered into red terrain in late morning deals as traders turned anxious after a study by rating agency Crisil found that higher growth in vegetable demand relative to supply in the recent past has led to an upward trend in inflation, with spikes becoming more frequent. It said vegetable inflation has been the most volatile in the food category, in fact. Markets continued to drift lower in late afternoon deals. Traders overlooked S&P Global Market Intelligence’s latest issue of PMI stating that India, the world’s fifth largest economy in the world, is likely to overtake Japan to become the world’s third-largest economy with a GDP of $7.3 trillion by 2030. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 522.82 points or 0.81% to 64,049.06 and the CNX Nifty was down by 159.60 points or 0.83% to 19,122.15.

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