Indian equity benchmarks remained range bound for the second consecutive session and managed to end higher on Tuesday, as investors await domestic GDP (gross domestic product) data for the April-June quarter, scheduled to be released post-market hours on Thursday. After a positive start, the markets traded in the tight range, as traders took some support with India Ratings stating that 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 also came with Union Minister for Labour and Employment Bhupender Yadav's statement that 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. However, gains remained capped as some concern came with a private report stating that post-Covid, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) in the real estate sector saw a major dip in 2022. Some cautiousness crept in 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. Besides, exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,393.25 crore on Monday. Traders also took note of reports that 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. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 79.22 points or 0.12% to 65,075.82 and the CNX Nifty was up by 36.60 points or 0.19% to 19,342.65.

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday, extending their previous session's gains, as the latest batch of U.S. economic data helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than anticipated in the month of August, according to a report released by the Conference Board. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index tumbled to 106.1 in August from a downwardly revised 114.0 in July. Street had expected the consumer confidence index to edge down to 116.5 from the 117.0 originally reported for the previous month. A separate report released by the Labor Department showed job openings in the U.S. decreased to 8.8 million on the last business day of July. On the sectoral font, telecom stocks saw significant strength on the day, resulting in a 3.0 percent surge by the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index. AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) posted notable gains after Citi upgraded their ratings on both telecom giants to Buy. Considerable strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Airline, steel and housing stocks also saw notable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Tuesday on weaker dollar. The dollar shed ground against most of its major rivals after data showed a drop in U.S. job openings, and a decline in consumer confidence. Oil prices also rose as according to reports Hurricane Idalia is expected to rapidly intensify and make landfall in Florida on Wednesday, likely causing some production shutdowns in the oil-producing Gulf of Mexico region. Chevron has reportedly evacuated staff from three Gulf of Mexico oil production platforms ahead of the hurricane. Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery gained $1.06 or about 1.3 percent to settle at $81.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for October delivery surged $1.07 or 1.26 percent to settle at $85.49 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee weakened considerably against dollar on Tuesday amid foreign fund outflows. Traders were worried with a private report that India is poised for its lowest monsoon rains in eight years, with the EI Nino weather pattern seen crimping September precipitation after an August that is on track to be the driest in over a century. Investors overlooked the private report stating that 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. On the global front, U.S. dollar was subdued on Tuesday after a strong run as traders held off from large bets ahead of a slew of economic data this week, while the Japanese yen languished near levels that triggered intervention last year. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.75 (Provisional), weaker by 12 paise from its previous close of 82.63 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11306.05 crore against gross selling of Rs 8830.04 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 504.02 crore with gross sales of Rs 292.43 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11.92 crore against gross selling of Rs 15.27 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Tuesday supported by record rally in Nvidia shares on Google partnership. Asian markets are trading in green on Wednesday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Indian markets eked out marginal gains and ended higher on Tuesday for second straight session as metal and power and select financial shares advanced. Today, start of the session is likely to be optimistic following firm trade across global markets. Traders will be getting encouragement as RBI data showed that interrupting a two-month streak of decline, outward foreign direct investment (FDI) rose sequentially to $1.85 billion in July over $1.07 billion in June, an increase of 73 per cent. Some support will come with report that the Centre is likely to infuse capital in certain regional rural banks (RRBs) during 2023-24, depending on their performance and adoption of digitisation. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review meeting with chairpersons and senior officials of RRBs from the Northern region in New Delhi. Traders may take note of report that in a significant move, the Union Cabinet has given the green light to the National Policy on Research and Development and Innovation in the Pharma-MedTech Sector. This decision is accompanied by the approval of the Scheme for Promotion of Research and Innovation in Pharma-MedTech Sector (PRIP), with a substantial allocation of Rs 5,000 crore for a five-year period spanning from FY24 to FY28. Besides, the Union government said that the price of domestic LPG cylinders has been cut by Rs 200 for all connections, in all markets across the country. This decision comes amid high inflation and ahead of crucial state and general elections. India has a total of 314 million domestic LPG consumers. However, some cautiousness may come as CARE Ratings said the erratic monsoon, which is affecting sowing, and global developments will keep the food inflation at elevated levels and would also hit the demand in rural India owing to lower income and inflation. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed to halve the issue size for tapping social stock exchanges (SSEs) and bring down the minimum application amount from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10,000. IT stocks will be in focus as rating agency ICRA said the information technology (IT) services industry's revenue growth will likely slow down to 3-5 per cent in this financial year (FY24) due to persistent macroeconomic uncertainty and weak demand in the US and Europe. There will be some reaction in auto stocks as Union Heavy Industries Minister Mahendra Nath Pandey said the government has decided to extend the Rs 25,938-crore production-linked incentive scheme for the automotive sector by one year.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is aiming to spend 7-8 per cent of its sales in the current fiscal on research and development activities as it looks to further strengthen its product portfolio across therapeutic segments.  
• Hero MotoCorp has launched the highly anticipated Karizma XMR. The new Karizma XMR is the most powerful motorcycle in its class, producing the highest torque. 
• Tata Motors' subsidiary -- Tata Passenger Electric Mobility has launched its new brand identity, TATA.ev, for the EV business. 
• Maruti Suzuki India is reportedly planning to invest about Rs 45,000 crore to double its annual production capacity to 4 million units in the next eight years.