Tuesday turned out to be a volatile session for the Indian equity benchmarks, with both Sensex and Nifty ending marginally lower, as negative cues from global peers cast a shadow over investor sentiments. After making a cautious start, markets gained traction after some time to trade with notable gains in morning deals, as sentiments got a boost as credit rating agency Acuite Ratings and Research reiterated India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for FY23 at 7 per cent. Sentiments also got boost as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India and China will contribute more than 50 per cent of the global growth in the upcoming year due to fading supply-chain disruptions and the boom in the service sector. But, markets cut all of their gains in early noon deals and traded volatile during the second half of the trading session, amid caution ahead of the minutes from the US Federal Reserve's meeting. Traders got worried, amid a report stating that the number of insolvency cases increased 25 per cent in the December 2022 quarter, while recovery of debt through the process remained the lowest at 23.45 per cent during the period. Adding more concerns, a private report stated that a rout in domestic bond markets caused by fresh concerns of an extended monetary tightening cycle has resulted in a spike in borrowing costs for corporate entities as yields on bonds issued by private firms have shot up. Besides, another private report stated that dealmaking activity witnessed a huge decline in January, with only 145 transactions worth $2.7 billion being undertaken by India Inc. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 18.82 points or 0.03% to 60,672.72 and the CNX Nifty was down by 17.90 points or 0.10% to 17,826.70.

The US markets settled deeply in red on Tuesday, with Nasdaq ending cut of two and half percent, on concerns about the outlook for interest rates amid a sharp increase in treasury yields. The benchmark ten-year yield more than offset the dip seen last Friday, reaching its highest closing level in over three months. Recent economic data has led to worries the Federal Reserve may raise rates higher than currently anticipated and keep rates at an elevated level for an extended period. On Wednesday, the Fed is scheduled to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, which could shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates. Geopolitical concerns also weighed on the markets after Russian President Vladimir Putin said he is suspending Russia's participation in a nuclear arms treaty with the U.S. The announcement by Putin comes after U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Monday. On the sectoral front, Housing stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 3.7 percent to its lowest closing level in almost a month. The sell-off by housing stocks came following the release of a report from the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly showing a continued decrease in U.S. existing home sales in the month of January.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Tuesday as investors continued to monitor the outlook for demand amid uncertainty over the global economic outlook. The rise in both the U.S. dollar and short-duration Treasury yields stoked concerns about the Fed Reserve crushing the economy with too-aggressive policy decisions this year.  Meanwhile, On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting, which could shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery fell 19 cents or 0.3 percent to $76.36 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery lost $1.02 or 1.2 percent at $83.05 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange. 

Indian Rupee ended lower against the US dollar on Tuesday as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiments. Traders got concerned after the labour ministry has said that retail inflation for farm and rural workers rose to 6.85 per cent and 6.88 per cent, respectively, in January 2023, mainly due to higher prices of certain food items. In January last year, the inflation numbers for farm and rural workers was at 5.49 per cent and 5.74 per cent, respectively. On the global front, rouble weakened on Tuesday despite increased demand for the currency ahead of month-end tax payments as President Vladimir Putin prepares to update Russia's political and military elite on the Ukraine conflict. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.82 (Provisional), depreciate by 9 paise from its previous close of 82.73 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4685.86 crore against gross selling of Rs 4215.80 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 679.60 crore against gross selling of Rs 835.80 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5.98 crore against gross selling of Rs 19.36 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as investors interpreted a rebound in US business activity in February to indicate that interest rates need to stay higher for longer to control inflation. Asian markets are trading in red on Wednesday ahead of key economic data across the region. Indian markets closed marginally down in choppy trade on Tuesday, extending losses for a third straight day as investors fretted about U.S. rates staying higher for longer. Today, markets are likely to get negative start tracking weakness in global markets. Traders will be concerned as the State Bank of India (SBI) projected a GDP growth of 4.6 per cent for the December quarter, citing that as many as 30 high frequency indicators are not as robust as they were in the previous quarters. The lower forecast also stems from poor corporate results, ex-BFSI, which have shown that operating profits grew at a much slower 9 per cent in the third quarter, which is just half of 18 per cent recorded in the year-ago period. Also, India Ratings & Research said India's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at 5.9 per cent in FY24 amid normalising pent-up demand, global slowdown, and higher borrowing costs. However, some respite may come later in the day as foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 525.80 crore on February 21, NSE's provisional data showed. Some support may come as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India's goods and services exports are growing at a healthy rate and are expected to be around $1 trillion each by 2030. Besides, to further cool prices, the Centre has decided to offload an extra 2 million tonnes (mt) of wheat in open markets in the next few weeks. There will be some reaction in stocks related to semiconductors stocks as electronics and IT secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma said that the production of semiconductors in the country will start very soon. There will be some buzz in select pharma stocks as the Department of Pharmaceuticals released the first tranche of incentives under the Product Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of pharmaceuticals amounting to Rs 166 crore to four selected applicants, namely Dr Reddy's Labs, Biocon, Strides Pharma Science and Premier Medical Corp. Meanwhile, the trading hours for interest rate derivatives have been extended till 5 pm by the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The change in timing will come into effect from February 23 onwards.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Tata Steel has received approval to raise Rs 2150 crore through issuance of 2,15,000 Fixed rate, Unsecured, Redeemable, Rated, Listed, NCDs having face value Rs 1,00,000 each. 
• NTPC's arm -- NTPC Green Energy has invited bids for rupee denominated term loan of up to Rs 9,000 crore. 
• Bharti Airtel has launched its cutting edge 5G services in Haridwar. Airtel's 5G services are already live in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. 
• Asian Paints' subsidiary -- Asian Paints (Polymers) has entered into a MoU with the Government of Gujarat to set up the manufacturing facility for VAE and VAM at Dahej, Gujarat.