Indian equity benchmarks ended in green on Wednesday, backed by renewed buying interest in Banking, Capital Goods and Metal stocks. After making a cautious start, key gauges traded marginally lower as 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 also came 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. Adding to the pessimism, a private report said 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. However, markets turned upwards in late morning deals in line with the trend in other global indices. Traders took support with Icra Ratings' statement that India's economic growth will accelerate to 8.5% in the April-June period of the current fiscal from the 6.1% 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 optimism also came with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that 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. Sentiments remained up-beat in late afternoon deals, taking support from reports that mutual cooperation and trust are the key pillars that will thrust the BRICS group of countries as well as the global south towards development and economic growth. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 213.27 points or 0.33% to 65,433.30 and the CNX Nifty was up by 47.55 points or 0.25% to 19,444.00

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday with Nasdaq settling with gain of over one and half percent. The spike by the Nasdaq came as tech stocks rallied ahead of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker releasing its fiscal second quarter results after the close of trading. The results from Nvidia, a leader in the AI space, could have a significant impact on the outlook for the technology sector. Shares of Nvidia shot up by 3.2 percent on the day. A steep drop by bond yields also generated some buying interest, as the ten-year yield pulled back further off highest levels in well over fifteen years. On the sectoral front, gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 3.3 percent. Semiconductor, computer hardware and software stocks have also moved significantly higher, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the economic data front, after reporting a sharp pullback in U.S. new home sales in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales rebounded by much more than expected in the month of July. The Commerce Department said new home sales spiked by 4.4 percent to an annual rate of 714,000 in July after tumbling by 2.8 percent to a revised rate of 684,000 in June. Street had expected new home sales to jump by 1.2 percent to a rate of 705,000 from the 697,000 originally reported for the previous month. With the much bigger than expected increase, new home sales reached their highest annual rate since hitting 773,000 in February 2022. New home sales in the Midwest helped lead the surge, skyrocketing by 47.4 percent to an annual rate of 84,000 in July.

Crude oil futures ended lower with cut of around one percent on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for oil demand after data showed a contraction in global manufacturing activity. Crude oil futures fell despite data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended August 18. data from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell by 6.1 million barrels last week, more than twice the expected drop of 2.8 million barrels. Gasoline stockpiles climbed 1.5 million barrels last week, as against forecast for a 888,000 barrel drop. Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery fell $0.75 or about 0.9 percent to settle at $78.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery declined $0.82 or 1 percent to settle at $83.21 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian Rupee ended higher against the US dollar on Wednesday amid positive tone in the domestic markets supported the upward move. Softening of crude oil prices also supported the domestic unit. Investors were hoping for good Q1FY24 GDP data of India after several rating agencies upgraded growth estimates for the country. Traders overlooked India Ratings and Research's (Ind-Ra) latest analysis report based on the Q1FY24 results of 3,323 listed companies showing a continued year on year (YoY) fall in revenue growth, a declining trend in coverage indicators and steady operating margins across most sectors. On the global front, U.S. dollar eased from a two-month peak on Wednesday as investors looked to the Federal Reserve chair's speech this week for cues on the path of monetary policy. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.72 (Provisional), stronger by 27 paise from its previous close of 82.99 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9113.63 crore against gross selling of Rs 9222.38 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 935.88 crore with gross sales of Rs 3074.97 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 15.70 crore against gross selling of Rs 23.00 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as fall in treasury yields aided sentiment. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, as upbeat earnings from Nvidia. Indian markets eked out modest gains in cautious trade on Wednesday. Today, markets are likely to get optimistic start on firm global cues as well as overnight fall in crude oil prices. Traders will be taking encouragement with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das' statement that vegetable rates may ease from September, led by tomato prices, which have started showing signs of correction on the back of increased supply. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid domestic sentiments. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth net Rs 614.32 crore on August 23. Some support will come as commerce minister Piyush Goyal said India is hopeful that trade and investment ministers from the world's 20 biggest economies set to meet in Jaipur will be able to strike a consensus on key areas of trade and investment, although differences persist over the Ukraine war. Traders may take note of report that India has created history by becoming the first country to land a spacecraft near the lunar south pole. The success of Chandrayaan-3 makes it only the fourth nation to achieve the milestone after the US, Russia, and China. The achievement by the Indian Space Research Agency was hailed across the world. The rover inside the lander has started moving on the lunar surface and begun scientific experiments. There will be some buzz in diamond industry stocks as Union minister Piyush Goyal reiterated lab-grown diamonds are the same as that natural ones and added the central government will now include those in Free Trade Agreement talks with other countries. Sugar stocks will be in focus with a private report that India is expected to ban mills from exporting sugar in the next season beginning October, halting shipments for the first time in seven years, as a lack of rain has cut cane yields. India's absence from the world market would be likely to increase benchmark prices in New York and London that are already trading around multi-year highs, triggering fears of further inflation on global food markets. There will be some reaction in coal, power and renewable energy industry stocks with a report that India has set the target of having 500GW of renewable energy by 2030. Coal-based power generation, however, ensures stable operation of the electricity transmission grid.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• HCL Technologies' software business division -- HCLSoftware has entered into strategic collaboration with Google Cloud. 
• Larsen & Toubro's construction arm -- L&T construction has secured new orders for its Power Transmission & Distribution Business in the Middle East. 
• Axis Bank has partnered with Cleartrip, a Flipkart company, to introduce a one-of-a-kind proposition to provide travel benefits to all existing and new Axis Bank credit card holders booking through Cleartrip.
• Hindalco Industries has planned a total investment of Rs 4,000 crore in an extrusion facility for freight wagons and coaches and a copper and e-waste recycling plant.