Indian equity benchmarks extended their gains for the third straight session on Wednesday amid buying in index major Power Grid Corporation, Indusind Bank and Nestle India. Indian markets opened lower, as rising recession fears in the United States offset cautious optimism in domestic markets in a busy earnings week. Some cautiousness came in as the finance ministry in its Monthly Economic Review for March said that India's economy continues to be robust, but downside risks such as rising crude oil prices, adverse weather conditions, and the global banking crisis outweigh the upside potential in gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the current financial year (FY24). Some anxiety also came with provisional data from National Stock Exchange showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 407.35 crore on April 25. However, markets soon erased losses and managed to trade in green in late morning deals as traders took some support with Deepak Sood, Secretary General at ASSOCHAM stating that private investment is picking up in sectors like infrastructure, green energy and electronics. He also said quicker execution of the projects in the railways, ports, airports and highways, as was witnessed in 2022-23, would make a difference in creating a positive spiral for the private investment to crowd in. Benchmarks extended their gains in late afternoon deals as positive Q4 results led to broad-based gains across sectors. Sentiments remained positive as the Finance Ministry in its monthly economic review said that India's banking system is strong enough to survive stress caused by interest rates increasing and it will continue aiding economic growth. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 169.87 points or 0.28% to 60,300.58 and the CNX Nifty was up by 44.35 points or 0.25% to 17,813.60.   

The US markets ended mostly in red on Wednesday on renewed concerns about turmoil in the banking sector. shares of First Republic (FRC) extended the steep drop seen in the previous session, which came after the regional bank reported a loss of more than $100 billion in deposits in the first quarter, renewing concerns about turmoil in the banking sector. However, the rebound by the Nasdaq largely reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Microsoft (MSFT), with the software giant soaring by 7.2 percent to its best closing level in a year.  On the sectoral front, Transportation stocks extended the sell-off seen during Tuesday's session, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 3.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over three-months. Pharmaceutical stocks also showed a significant move to the downside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index falling by 1.9 percent after ending Tuesday's trading at a record closing high. On the economic data front, the Commerce Department released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods surged by much more than expected in March amid a substantial rebound in orders for transportation equipment. The report said durable goods orders spiked by 3.2 percent in March after tumbling by a revised 1.2 percent in February. Street had expected durable goods orders to climb by 0.8 percent compared to the 1.0 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month. Excluding the jump in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 0.3 percent in March after falling by 0.3 percent in February. Ex-transportation orders were expected to dip by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday, magnifying their previous session's losses, as worries about the outlook for energy demand. Crude oil prices fell despite data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude oil inventories decreased by 5.1 million barrels to 460.9 million barrels in the week ended April 21. Meanwhile, the EIA data showed gasoline inventories dropped by 2.4 million barrels to 221.1 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles decreased by 600,000 barrels to 111.5 million barrels. Data released by the American Petroleum Institute (API) on Tuesday revealed that U.S. crude inventories fell by about 6.1 million barrels last week. Benchmark crude oil futures for June delivery fell $2.77 or 3.6 percent to settle at $74.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery dropped $3.08 or 3.81 percent to settle at $77.69 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian Rupee ended higher against the US dollar on Wednesday tracking the weakness of the American currency in the overseas market. A positive trend in domestic equities also supported the Indian Rupee. Sentiments were positive amid a private reports stating that private investment in India is picking up in some sectors but will need a government push to sustain the pace. Besides, the finance ministry said that the multifaceted nature of the RBI's regulatory actions, improved bank balance sheets, and attunement of the banking system to frequent interest rate cycles augur well for India's financial stability and significantly reduce the probability of an SVB-like event from occurring in India. On the global front, U.S. dollar and the yen were steady on Wednesday, holding onto overnight gains as concerns over the U.S. banking sector and economy hit sentiment, while the Aussie slid after easing inflation suggested less pressure to raise interest rates. Finally, the rupee ended at 81.74 (Provisional), stronger by 21 paise from its previous close of 81.95 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9250.89 crore against gross selling of Rs 9612.87 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 721.07 crore against gross selling of Rs 1319.77 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3.23 crore against gross selling of Rs 4.48 crore.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Wednesday as banking fears eclipsed Big Tech earnings on Wall Street. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday as investors focused on the Bank of Japan's first policy meeting led by new BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda. Indian markets recovered from early losses and ended higher on Wednesday as stable rupee and falling oil prices offered some support. Today, domestic indices are likely to get flat-to-negative start amid subdued global cues, along with March quarter earnings season to guide markets. Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro, LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Holdings, Shriram Finance, Trent, Indian Hotels Company, ACC, among others will share results. Trading may turn volatile later in the day due to the expiry of April month derivative contracts. However, foreign fund inflows on April 26, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. Traders may take note of report that India's consumer affairs department and a German ministry signed an agreement on improve quality infrastructure. The technical dialogues of the working group address key areas of economic cooperation between the two countries. Meanwhile, the Centre gave its nod to the National Medical Devices Policy 2023 with an aim to achieve 10-12 per cent share in the growing global market over the next 25 years. Sugar industry stocks will be in focus with report that Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has not only lowered the country's sugar production estimate to 32.8 million tonnes in the current marketing year that will end in September from the earlier projected 34 million tonnes but at the same time it now expects 4 million tonnes of sugar to get diverted towards ethanol as against the earlier estimated 4.5 million tonnes. There will be some reaction in IT industry stocks as a report by Nasscom stated that India has witnessed a significant increase in patent filings in FY2022, with a growth of 13.6 per cent year on year – the highest annual increase in the last decade. In the primary markets, the Rs 4,326-crore IPO of Mankind Pharma will close for subscription later today.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Maruti Suzuki India has upgraded its entire range of vehicles to meet the stricter emission norms under the BSVI regime. 
• M&M has launched its All-New Bolero MaXX Pik-Up range. 
• S&P Global Ratings has upgraded its long-term ratings on Tata Motors to speculative grade BB with stable outlook on earnings improvements and potential deleveraging. 
• Bajaj Finance has reported rise of 30.51% in its consolidated net profit at Rs 3,157.79 crore for Q4FY23 as compared to Rs 2,419.51 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.