Indian equity benchmarks erased their initial gains and ended flat with a positive bias in an extremely volatile session on Tuesday despite supportive global markets. Markets opened on a positive note and witnessed range bound day of trade as traders took support with a private report stating that the value of foreign portfolio investors' holdings in the domestic equities reached $626 billion in the three months ended June 2023, which was 20 per cent higher from the year-ago period. Some optimism also came with the latest payroll data released by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) showing that the number of fresh formal jobs increased for the third consecutive month in June to hit a 9-month high, thus signalling a sustained recovery in the labour markets in the first quarter of financial year 2023-24 (FY24). Sentiments remained positive in afternoon deals, taking support from Icra Ratings' report stating that India's economic growth will accelerate to 8.5 per cent in the April-June period of the current fiscal from the 6.1 per cent growth rate witnessed in the preceding January-March quarter. The rating agency attributed the faster growth to a supportive base and also a recovery in the services sector. Some support came as the global industry body WFDSA in a report said that India has moved up to 11th position in the ranking of top markets of direct sellers, with retail sales of $3.23 billion (around Rs 26,852 crore) in 2022. Besides, India and the 10-nation bloc Asean said they have directed their officials to intensify their efforts to conclude the review of the existing free trade agreement in goods between the two regions by 2025. However, gains got trimmed in the last leg of trade, as some anxiety remained among traders with think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) stating that India's exports and imports of goods and services declined 2.5% on-year in January-June 2023 at $800.9 billion. Some concern also came as the Finance Ministry in its report stated that global and regional uncertainties and domestic disruptions may keep inflationary pressures elevated in India for the coming months. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 3.94 points or 0.01% to 65,220.03 and the CNX Nifty was up by 2.85 points or 0.01% to 19,396.45.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as traders continued to look ahead to the economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, later this week. The symposium will feature meetings by global central bank leaders as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that could impact the outlook for interest rates. Early volatility in the bond market have also contributed to the choppy trading, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note showing wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower. Concerns about the outlook for interest rates have contributed to a recent surge in bond yields, driving the ten-year yield to its highest levels in over fifteen years. On the sectoral front, banking stocks moved sharply lower, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in almost two months. The sell-off by banking stocks came after S&P Global Ratings downgraded several regional banks by one notch, citing tough operating conditions. On the economic data front, existing home sales in the U.S. slumped by much more than expected in the month of July, according to a report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR). NAR said existing home sales tumbled by 2.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.07 million in July after plunging by 3.3 percent to an annual rate of 4.16 million in June. Street had expected existing home sales to edge down to an annual rate of 4.15 million. Existing home sales decreased for the fourth time in the past five months, falling to their lowest annual rate since hitting 4.00 million in January. The report said housing inventory at the end of July was 1.11 million units, up 3.7 percent from June 1.07 million units in June but down 14.6 percent from 1.30 million units a year ago. The unsold inventory represents 3.3 months of supply at the current sales pace, up from 3.1 months in June and 3.2 months in July 2022.

Crude oil futures extended previous session's losses and ended lower with cut of half percent on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China. Meanwhile, investors await weekly oil reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA is scheduled to release its inventory data on Wednesday. However, oil's downside was limited to an extent after reports said several drilling and pipeline installations along the Texas Gulf Coast are shut down or are working on reduced capacity due to tropical storm Harold. Benchmark crude oil futures for September delivery fell $0.37 or about 0.5 percent to settle at $80.35 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery declined $0.43 or 0.5 percent to settle at $84.03 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Tuesday as the American currency retreated from its elevated levels. Traders got support as Icra Ratings in report stated that India's economic growth will accelerate to 8.5 per cent in the April-June period of the current fiscal from the 6.1 per cent growth rate witnessed in the preceding January-March quarter. The rating agency attributed the faster growth to a supportive base and also a recovery in the services sector. On the global front, the U.S. dollar eased back from a 10-week peak versus major peers on Tuesday, even as Treasury yields marched to fresh post-financial crisis highs, as traders awaited a potentially crucial speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later this week. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.96 (Provisional), higher by 17 paise from its previous close of 83.13 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday'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 8157.93 crore against gross selling of Rs 9435.15 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2970.94 crore with gross sales of Rs 743.72 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 17.51 crore against gross selling of Rs 28.03 crore.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Tuesday led by losses in banking and financial names after the S&P Global ratings agency revised outlook for multiple banks citing tough operating conditions. Asian markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday ahead of Nvidia's earnings results due later in the day and a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday. Indian markets witnessed a range-bound trading session and ended flat on Tuesday with Capital Goods, Power and FMCG shares seeing buying, while IT and financial shares were out of favour. Today, start of the session is likely to be flat-to-positive amid mixed global cues. Traders continue to take support with Icra Ratings' statement that India's economic growth will accelerate to 8.5 per cent in the April-June period of the current fiscal from the 6.1 per cent growth rate witnessed in the preceding January-March quarter. The rating agency attributed the faster growth to a supportive base and also a recovery in the services sector. Some support will come as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India will become the growth engine for the world in the coming years, and the ease of doing business in the country has improved through reforms undertaken by the government. He added the country will become a $5 trillion economy. However, foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 495.17 crore on August 22. Some cautiousness may come as Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) Chairman Bibek Debroy said the government was losing revenue due to the GST, which should be revenue neutral with a single rate. Traders may take note of report that days after imposing a 40 percent export levy on onions to cool soaring prices, which triggered protests across the main growing belts, the central government has now decided to procure an additional 2 lakh tons of onions at Rs 2,410 per quintal for its buffer stock from farmers. Banking stocks will be in focus with a private report that the banking system's liquidity slipped into deficit for the first time in the current financial year (2023-24) due to the imposition of the Incremental Cash Reserve Ratio (I-CRR) for banks and outflows from goods and services tax (GST) payments. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows it injected Rs 23,644 crore on August 21. Meanwhile, TVS Supply Chain Solutions will make its debut on the BSE and NSE today. The issue price has been fixed at Rs 197 per share. Moreover, BSE has announced the postponement of the removal of Jio Financial Services from all S&P BSE Indices from August 24 to August 29 after the stock hit the lower circuit for two days in a row.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Adani Enterprises' Wholly Owned Subsidiary -- Adani Airport Holdings has incorporated a Joint Venture Company namely Tabemono True Aromas on August 21, 2023 with Travel Food Services. 
• Larsen & Toubro has secured a significant order from Perdaman Chemicals & Fertilisers to build a 2.3 million tonne urea plant in Australia. 
• Mahindra & Mahindra has partnered with SARGA MotoCorp to bolster its farm equipment business in Tanzania. 
• Tata Motors' subsidiary -- Tata Technologies has joined a worldwide development partnership of car manufacturers, suppliers, and other firms -- AUTOSAR -- as a premium partner.