Indian equity benchmarks closed higher on Wednesday, helped by fag-end buying in index majors JSW Steel, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra amid a positive start in European markets. Key gauges opened flat and slipped into the red as the day progressed as traders were anxious ahead of two major events -- RBI's monetary policy and the US inflation data -- due to be announced on Thursday. Traders were also concerned with a private report indicating that India's retail inflation likely accelerated to 6.40% in July on surging food prices, breaching the upper end of the Reserve Bank of India's 2%-6% tolerance band for the first time in five months. Besides, persistent foreign fund outflows weighed down on the sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth Rs 711.34 crore on August 8. However, last-hour buying helped markets to erase all the losses and end higher. Traders got support as the World Trade Organization (WTO) said that two separate dispute settlement panels have stated that India and the US have mutually resolved disputes with regard to certain measures on steel and aluminium products, and additional duties on certain products from the US. Some support also came with Sanjeev Sanyal, Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, stating that the country should be confident enough to deconstruct the rest of the world on its own terms as a rising economic power, creating global norms and benchmarks in various fields. He said India should no longer be bound by benchmarks that are decided by third parties, and in which the country has no role in framing. Traders also took a note of Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that the 28 per cent GST on full face value of supplies in casinos, race courses and online gaming will result in higher revenues. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 149.31 points or 0.23% to 65,995.81 and the CNX Nifty was up by 61.70 points or 0.32% to 19,632.55.

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday, with Nasdaq settling over a percent, as traders remained cautious ahead of the release of a key report on consumer price inflation on Thursday. Street expects the report to show consumer prices rose by 0.2 percent in July, matching the uptick seen in June. Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, are also expected to rise by 0.2 percent for the second straight month. The annual rate of consumer price growth is expected to accelerate to 3.3 percent in July from 3.0 percent in June, while the annual rate of core consumer price growth is expected to hold at 4.8 percent. Besides, traders will be looking for the report to reinforce expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month. On the sectoral front, Computer hardware stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, contributing to the steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index plunged by 4.4 percent. Significant weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index fell to its lowest closing level in two months. Semiconductor, financial and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while energy stocks bucked the downtrend amid a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Wednesday. The price of crude oil reached its highest levels since November 2022 as output cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia continued to raise concerns about supply. Further, the advance came following the release of a report from the Energy Information Administration showing decreases in gasoline and distillate fuel inventories. The report said gasoline inventories slid by 2.7 million barrels in the week ended August 4th, while distillate fuel inventories fell by 1.7 million. Traders shrugged off an increase in crude oil inventories, which climbed by 5.9 million barrels compared to street estimates for a 0.6 million barrel uptick. Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery rose $1.48 or about 1.78 percent to settle at $84.4 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery rose $1.38 or 1.60 percent to settle at $87.55 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended higher against the US dollar on Wednesday supported by a weak American currency against major rivals overseas. Traders overlooked a private report stating that India's retail inflation likely accelerated to 6.40% in July on surging food prices, breaching the upper end of the Reserve Bank of India's 2%-6% tolerance band for the first time in five months. Food prices, which account for nearly half of the inflation basket, have soared in the last two months largely due to an erratic monsoon throughout the country, pushing tomato prices at wholesale markets up more than 1,400% in the past three months. On the global front, dollar eased on Wednesday after data showed the Chinese economy slipped into deflation last month, which upped the chances for the government to roll out extra stimulus measures and nudged investors into risky assets. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.85 (Provisional), stronger by 6 paise from its previous close of 82.91 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10756.95 crore against gross selling of Rs 10815.40 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 320.72 crore with gross sales of Rs 294.09 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9.99 crore against gross selling of Rs 21.49 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday as investors awaited key inflation readings that could provide clues to the Fed's monetary policy path. Asian markets are trading mixed on Thursday as investors braced for July consumer price index data out from the US. Indian markets staged a smart recovery and reversed early losses to end modestly higher on Wednesday led by strong gains in metal shares. Today, markets are likely to get negative start amid weak cues from global markets along with rise in crude oil prices overnight. Investors likely to remain on sidelines ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's bi-monthly monetary policy decision, slated to be announced later in the day for more directional clues. The RBI's rate setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is widely expected to take a hawkish stance as flaring vegetable prices upend the inflation math of the economy. Also, there will be some cautiousness with a private report that the rate of price rise for the consumer basket likely breached the central bank's upper tolerance level of 6 per cent in July. There will be some volatility in the markets ahead of weekly F&O expiry later in the day. However, some respite may come as foreign institutional investors (FII) made buying in the cash segment of Indian equities for the first time in the last 10 consecutive sessions, purchasing shares worth Rs 644.11 crore on August 9, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed. Some support may come later in day as Securities and Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) annual report for the financial year 2022-23 revealed that over 400 new foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) joined the Indian markets in the last financial year. According to the data, the number of FPIs operating in India increased to 11,081 from 10,608 in FY 22. Coal industry stocks will be in focus with a private report that India's total coal imports fell 1.82 per cent to 68.30 million tonne in April-June period of ongoing financial year. The import was at 69.57 MT in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, the Indian government will sell an additional 50 lakh tonnes of wheat and 25 lakh tonnes of rice under Open Market Sale Scheme (OMSS) to bring down prices of the two essential commodities. As on August 7, in one year, wheat prices have gone up by 6.77 percent in the retail market and 7.37 percent in the wholesale market. Similarly, rice prices in the retail market have gone up by 10.63 percent and 11.12 percent in the wholesale market. In primary market, TVS Supply Chain Solutions' Rs 880 crore IPO to open for subscription today, in the price band of Rs 187-Rs 197 per share.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Coal India has reported 10.11% fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 7941.40 crore for Q1FY24 as compared to Rs 8834.22 crore for the same quarter in the previous year. 
• NTPC's step-down subsidiary -- NTPC Renewable Energy has been the successful bidder for 80 MW Floating Solar capacity at Omkareshwar Reservoir, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh. 
• M&M has rolled out a new wheel harvester under the Swaraj brand in the domestic market as it looks to tap aggressively the farm mechanisation market in the country. 
• Bharti Airtel's music streaming app Wynk Music and Dolby Laboratories have launched Dolby Atmos to its users at no extra cost.