Snapping a two-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended in green on Monday tracking strength in global markets and buying in Capital Goods, Industrials and Realty stocks. After making a positive start, key gauges turned cautious as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) in its latest data has said that foreign direct investment (FDI) equity inflows into India declined 34 per cent to $10.94 billion during April-June 2023-24, dragged by lower inflows in computer hardware and software, telecom, auto and pharma. However, markets soon gained some traction as traders found support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of this fiscal (Q1FY24) should be good and that the government's priority is to tame inflation, which has touched a 15-month high. She also said that green shoots of private capital expenditure upcycle can be palpably felt as the government's enhanced capital expenditure is now crowding in private sector investments. Sentiments remained positive in afternoon deals, taking support from the commerce ministry's statement that Indian and UK officials will continue their negotiations till the month-end to iron out differences on the proposed free trade agreement (FTA). It said this meeting will be followed by a review at the higher level. Some support came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that India has become face of Industry 4.0 revolution; future of global growth dependent on future of business. Some optimism also came amid reports that rise in high net-worth individuals and their need for diversification beyond traditional investment products contributed to a 15 per cent year-on-year gain in the asset base of portfolio management services to Rs 28.5 lakh crore at June-end. However, gains were limited as some cautiousness remained among traders after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest data has said India's foreign exchange reserve fell by $7.3 billion to a near two-month low of $595 billion in the week ended August 18, registering the most substantial weekly decline in over six months. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 110.09 points or 0.17% to 64,996.60 and the CNX Nifty was up by 40.25 points or 0.21% to 19,306.05.

The US markets ended higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite attempting to beat back their worst monthly performances since December. Markets advanced, picking up from where they left off on Friday after Powell indicated the jury is out on further tightening of monetary policy. Investors chose to focus on the more dovish aspects of Powell's Jackson Hole speech - looking past his additional comments that inflation remains too high and policy makers are ready to further hike rates if necessary. Meanwhile, investors were looking ahead to key economic data releases later this week, including the July reading of the Fed's preferred inflation gauge as well as payrolls numbers from the Labor Department. On the sectoral front, oil service stocks have also shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.1 percent. The strength among oil service stocks comes as the price of crude oil for October delivery is climbing $0.70 to $80.53 a barrel. A modest increase by the price of gold is also contributing to strength among gold stocks, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index rising by 1.6 percent. Telecom, steel and banking stocks are also seeing notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors. In the stock specific development, shares of 3M Co. gained more than 5 percent. The stock rallied after a private report said the company tentatively agreed to resolve more than 330,000 lawsuits related to its defective earplugs.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Monday as China announced a slew of measures to boost the sagging economy. China approved the launch of 37 retail funds over the weekend and also halved the stamp duty on stock trading in the latest attempt to boost struggling markets. However, lingering concerns about the pace of global economic growth and uncertainty about the outlook for US interest rates limited oil's upside. Also, speculation that the US could ease sanctions on Venezuela in a bid to boost supply limited oil prices' gain. Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery gained $0.27 or about 0.3 percent to settle at $80.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, Brent crude for October delivery lost $0.06 or 0.07 percent to settle at $84.42 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

The Indian rupee ended marginally higher against the US dollar on Monday amid some support from positive domestic equities and recovery in crude oil prices. Sentiments were positive with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India's Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of this fiscal (Q1FY24) should be good and that the government's priority is to tame inflation, which has touched a 15-month high. She also said that green shoots of private capital expenditure upcycle can be palpably felt as the government's enhanced capital expenditure is now crowding in private sector investments. On the global front, the dollar slid from a 12-week peak on Monday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell left open the possibility of further rate hikes. Russian rouble weakened on Monday despite the approach of a monthly deadline for tax payments that is usually supportive for the currency as large exporters appeared to have stocked up on roubles in advance. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.63 (Provisional), up by 1 paisa from its previous close of 82.64 on Friday.

The FIIs as per Monday'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 10978.65 crore against gross selling of Rs 12684.98 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 679.81 crore with gross sales of Rs 516.87 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 12.07 crore against gross selling of Rs 63.04 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Monday with gains in 3M and Goldman Sachs ahead of key inflation and jobs data this week that will offer more clues on the Federal Reserve's interest rate path. Asian markets are trading in green on Tuesday following overnight gains on Wall Street. Indian markets ended higher on Monday amid buying across the sectors barring FMCG and Information Technology. Today, markets are likely to get flat-to-positive start tracking firm global cues. Traders will be taking encouragement as India Ratings said with falling trade deficit, India's current account deficit is likely to narrow to around $10 billion or 1 per cent of GDP in the April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal. The country's current account deficit (CAD) stood at $18 billion or 2.1 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Some support will come as Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav said more than 1.5 crore jobs have been created in nine organised sectors, including IT, manufacturing, trade and transport, during the nine-year rule of Narendra Modi government at the Centre. Traders may take note of India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant stressed on the need to boost crop productivity through adoption of new cutting-edge technologies and said the farm sector should be made smart and adaptive to climate change. However, there may be some cautiousness with a private report that India is poised for its lowest monsoon rains in eight years, with the El Nino weather pattern seen crimping September precipitation after an August that is on track to be the driest in over a century. Banking stocks will be in focus with report that banking system liquidity has been gradually improving due to higher government spending. Market participants expect that it will improve further by the end of the current week. According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, banks parked Rs 17,203 crore with the apex bank. There will be some reaction in real estate industry stocks with a private report that post-Covid, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) in the real estate sector saw a major dip in 2022. Metal stocks will be in limelight with report that micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the steel sector are poised for rapid growth on the back of robust demand from the infrastructure and building and construction segments.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• LTIMindtree has entered into a strategic collaboration with CAST AI, a leading SaaS company that specializes in automated cost optimization for customers who run their cloud-native applications on Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure. 
• State Bank of India has introduced facility to allow customers to enroll in social security schemes by just furnishing an Aadhaar card. 
• GAIL (India) has received approval for increase in capacity of the Gurdaspur Jammu Natural Gas Pipeline. 
• Axis Bank has introduced UPI interoperability functionality on its CBDC app (Axis Mobile Digital Rupee).