Indian equity benchmarks surged for the second straight session and ended with gains of over one and half percent on Tuesday driven by gains in index-heavyweights Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and Titan Company amid positive global cues. Key indices made a gap-up opening, as India recorded daily cases below 3 lakh for the second straight day. The fresh case count in the last 24 hours stood at 2.63 lakh versus 2.81 lakh. Besides, the Union health ministry said that more than two crore covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union territories, while nearly three lakh doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days. Investors' sentiment remained upbeat with the RBI data showing that India Inc's foreign investment in the first month of this current fiscal jumped by more than two-times year-on-year to $2.51 billion. Markets maintained their upward momentum in the late afternoon session, taking support from RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal's statement that India has the potential to be a centre of vaccine production and will be able to ramp it up soon. Once vaccination reaches a critical mass, the economy will do well with pent up demand, global recovery and easy financial conditions. Traders also took a note of an RBI article stating that the double-digit growth registered by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) during the second and third quarters of 2020-21 amid the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic reflects the 'resilience' of these entities. Though, there was some cautiousness too with Moody's Investors Service stating that if the second wave of the pandemic does not decline to more manageable levels and results in a prolonged and wider lockdown, it will have a more severe effect on companies' earnings recovery. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 612.60 points or 1.24% to 50,193.33, while the CNX Nifty was up by 184.95 points or 1.24% to 15,108.10.

The US markets wiped out earlier gains and closed at their session lower on Tuesday as Big Tech stocks reversed lower, while data showing housing starts dropped sharply last month also weighed on sentiment. Data from the Commerce Department showed housing starts in the US tumbled 9.5 percent to an annualized rate of 1.569 million in April, sliding from a 15-year high of 1.733 million recorded a month earlier. Street had expected housing starts to come in at 1.71 million in April. Another data from the Commerce Department showed building permits in the US rose by 0.3 percent to 1.76 million in April, from the previous month's 1.755 million. Street had expected building permits to rise to 1.77 million in April. Further, investors looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's April monetary policy meeting for clues about monetary tightening. Besides, investors digested better-than-expected earnings from big retailers. Walmart shares jumped more than 2% after reporting strong grocery sales and e-commerce growth for the quarter. Macy's posted a surprise profit and hiked its full-year outlook, but its shares erased earlier gains and dipped 0.4%. Home Depot reported earnings of $3.86 a share for the previous quarter, much higher than the $3.08 expected by Street. Net sales surged 32.7%, more than expected. The stock ended the session 1% lower.

Crude oil futures ended lower with cut of over one percent on Tuesday weighed down by private report saying there are signs of progress in the Iran nuclear talks. According to a private report, Russian ambassador to the UN Mikhail Ulyanov is quoted as saying that significant progress had been made in talks between the US and Iran with regard to reviving a deal restricting Iran's nuclear weapons development. Traders were also weighing global energy demand prospects amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases in Asian countries, including India, Japan and China. Crude oil futures for June fell $0.78 or about 1.2 percent to settle at $65.49 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. July Brent crude lost $0.72 or 1.02 percent to settle at $68.74 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Tuesday due to fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Besides, gains in local equity market also supported the rupee sentiment. Traders were taking support with Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data showing that India Inc's foreign investment in the first month of current fiscal (FY22) jumped by more than two-times year-on-year to $2.51 billion. Indian investors had committed $1.21 billion worth of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in April 2020. On the global front; pound rose to a three-month high on Tuesday as sentiment boosted by jobs data showing that Britain's unemployment fell between January and March. Finally, the rupee ended 73.05, stronger by 17 paise from its previous close of 73.22 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net seller in equity segment, while net buyer in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6595.95 crore against gross selling of Rs 7953.19 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 773.79 crore against gross selling of Rs 621.82 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 15.14 crore against gross selling of Rs 40.09 crore.

The US markets ended in red on Tuesday slumping on a sharp decline in telecom stocks and weak housing starts data that overshadowed better-than-expected earnings from Walmart and Home Depot. Asian markets are trading lower on Wednesday with some markets in the region closed for holidays. Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea are closed on Wednesday for holidays. Indian markets ended higher for the second session on Tuesday boosted by auto stocks and financials, as the daily rise in domestic COVID cases stayed below the 300,000-mark for a second straight day. Today, the markets are likely to halt the rally and may start the session in red amid weakness in the global markets. Traders will be concerned as India reported 267,174 fresh Covid-19 cases to take total infections past 26.7 million, according to Worldometer. The country also logged a record 4,525 deaths in the last 24 hours. There will be some cautiousness with a private report that India's second wave of virus cases will hit the economy by prompting consumers to save rather than spend, unlike last year's contraction that was driven mainly by supply disruptions. Though, some support may come later in the day as RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal said India's economy will do well once vaccination reaches a critical mass as pent-up demand, global recovery and easy financial conditions will boost activities. Besides, the Union Finance Ministry, on the recommendation of the Panchayati Raj Ministry, released Rs 8,923.8 crore to 25 states for providing grant to rural local bodies. The spread of COVID-19 pandemic in different parts of the country has recently assumed serious proportions. The vulnerabilities of the rural communities need to be especially addressed. There will be some buzz in tractor industry stocks as rating agency Crisil said growth in the domestic tractor sales volume is likely to be at 3-5 per cent this fiscal, given the strong second wave of COVID-19 and rising cases in the hinterland. IT & Business Services industry stocks will be in focus as research firm IDC said the IT and Business Services market in the country recorded a lower year-on-year growth of 5.41 per cent to $13.41 billion in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organisations. There will be some reaction in glass industry stocks as ratings agency Crisil said sharp increase in Covid-19 vaccination led pharma demand as well as an expected healthy growth in end-user sectors like automobiles and construction is expected to drive revenue growth of glass makers. Aviation stocks will be in limelight reacting to the Indian aviation regulator DGCA's data showing that around 57.25 lakh domestic passengers travelled by air in April, which is 26.8 per cent lower than 78.22 lakh who travelled in March.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Tata Motors is planning to undertake a block closure at its Jamshedpur facility from May 18, 2021 to May 22, 2021 as per an internal communication sent to its employees. 
• Coal India has started a mission Praana Vayu, under which it is facilitating setting up oxygen plants and ventilators availability at hospitals and Covid care centres. 
• ONGC is planning to procure one lakh oxygen concentrators to aid India's fight against the world's worst outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. 
• M&M has joined The Valuable 500 - a B2B initiative catalysing the influence of large private sector corporations - to collectively tackle disability inclusion in business.