Snapping their six-session winning streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended on a flat note with negative bias on Tuesday amid profit-booking in Auto, Realty and FMCG stocks. Key indices made positive start, as traders took encouragement with report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is taking steps to carefully monitor the fiscal deficit, which is estimated at 9.5 percent of the GDP for the current financial year. Some support also came in with a report that US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have agreed to work together on the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, renew partnership on climate change, rebuild the global economy in a way that benefits the people of both countries and stand together against the scourge of global terrorism. Key indices added gains in afternoon session, taking support from the European Union stating that its first high-level dialogue on trade with India saw interest by both sides in resuming negotiations for an ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade and investment pact once their respective approaches and positions are close enough. Local investors cheered after private report stated that India will make up the biggest share of energy demand growth at 25 percent over the next two decades, as it overtakes the European Union as the world's third-biggest energy consumer by 2030. However, barometer gauges succumbed to the fag-end selloff and closed marginally lower, as some concern came with reports that securitisation volumes halved to Rs 24,400 crore during the December quarter compared to the year-ago period, but showed a healthy 61 per cent rise over the preceding September quarter. Domestic ratings agency Icra said it maintains that overall volumes of securitization, where a lender sells down its loan portfolio or future receivables to investors at a discount for upfront payment, will come at up to Rs 90,000 crore in FY2020-21, as against nearly Rs 1.90 lakh crore in FY2019-20. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 19.69 points or 0.04% to 51,329.08, while the CNX Nifty was down by 6.50 points or 0.04% to 15,109.30.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as traders seemed to be taking a breather following the advance seen in recent days, which drove all of the major averages to new record closing highs on Monday. Profit taking contributed to some initial weakness on markets, although selling pressure was relatively subdued as traders worry about missing out on further upside. Optimism about more fiscal stimulus also helped support the markets along with the recent slowdown in coronavirus infection rates. House Democrats have unveiled a proposal providing $1,400 stimulus checks to individuals making up to $75,000 a year and couples who earn up to $150,000 a year. Those income levels are unchanged from previous stimulus checks, although the proposal would phase out payments faster than previous bills and completely cut off individuals making more than $100,000 and couples making more than $200,000. Most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets. Energy stocks saw considerable weakness, however, with traders cashing in on recent gains even as the price of crude oil once again rose to its highest closing level in over a year. Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 1.9 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index slid by 1.4 percent.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Tuesday, extending gains to a seventh straight session, on easing worries about the outlook for energy demand. With the vaccination drive gaining momentum in several countries and optimism about a stimulus plan rising by the day, concerns over energy demand have eased a bit. A weak dollar - the dollar index drifted down by nearly 0.5% to 90.50 - also supported oil's uptick. Meanwhile, the US Energy Information Administration said in a report that it doesn't expect the country's oil industry to return to pre-pandemic levels of production until 2023, not least because it expects the sector to have to fight harder for investment dollars in the future. Crude oil futures for March rose $0.39 or 0.7 percent to settle at $58.36 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. April Brent crude gained $0.40 or 0.69 to settle at $61.10 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Tuesday due to fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Sentiments were optimistic with report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is taking steps to carefully monitor the fiscal deficit, which is estimated at 9.5 percent of the GDP for the current financial year. Additional support came as European Union stated that its first high-level dialogue on trade with India saw interest by both sides in resuming negotiations for an ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade and investment pact once their respective approaches and positions are close enough. On the global front, sterling hit its highest level against the dollar since April 2018 and traded just below eight-month highs against the euro on Tuesday. Finally, the rupee ended at 72.87, 10 paise stronger from its previous close of 72.97 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net buyer in equity segment and net seller in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8096.79 crore against gross selling of Rs 5924.20 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 493.08 crore against gross selling of Rs 651.65 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 16.51 crore against gross selling of Rs 35.71 crore.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Tuesday as investors closely tracking progress in passing a proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Wednesday as upbeat Wall Street earnings and optimism about a global recovery supported sentiment. Indian markets ended in the red on Tuesday, snapping six straight sessions of gains dragged by losses in major key sectors including IT, auto, pharma and metals. Today, the start of session is likely to be positive tracking Asian peers. Traders will be taking encouragement with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's statement that the government has been pursuing the target of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and several interventions taken are showing a positive impact. Some support will come as the finance ministry's monthly report said growth and inflation outlook for 2021-22 portends more than full recovery, and that the country has become the COVID-19 vaccine hub of the world. However, there may be some cautiousness with report that India recorded 10,510 fresh Covid-19 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). The country reported a net reduction of 4,984 in active coronavirus cases to bring its count down at 143,416, which is 85.89 per cent lower than the September 18 peak of 1,017,754. India's share of global active coronavirus cases has declined to 0.56 per cent (one in 179). The caseload tally stands at 10,858,300. The country continues to be second-most-affected globally, and ranks 17th among worst-hit nations by active cases. Meanwhile, amid domestic traders complaining alleged violations of FDI norms by foreign online players, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said the government is considering to come out with certain clarifications to ensure that the e-commerce sector works in the true spirit of the law and rules. there will be some buzz in insurance industry stocks with report that gross premium underwritten by non-life insurers in January grew 6.7 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 18,488 crore compared to Rs 17,333.7 crore in the year ago period. Telecom stocks will be in limelight as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea submitted applications to participate in the Rs 3.92 lakh crore spectrum auction scheduled to start from March 1. There will be some reaction in sugar industry stocks with Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that sugar mills owe Rs 16,883 crore to cane farmers as on January 31 of the current marketing year that started in October. Auto stocks will be in focus with a report that retail sales of passenger vehicles fell 4.5 per cent year-on-year to 281,666 units in January 2021 from 294,817 units, in January 2020, after two consecutive months of growth. Key reasons attributed behind the drop include high base effect and shortage of semiconductors.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Coal India has approved an aggregate investment of Rs 1,593.84 crore as a part of its equity capital towards setting up of three natural gas-based fertiliser plants. 
• Tech Mahindra has been included in 2021 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the second consecutive year. 
• ONGC is going to implement India's maiden geothermal field development project in Ladakh that will use the heat generated by the Earth's core to generate clean energy. 
• Tata Motors' Tata Nexon EV continues to expand its presence across India, exhibiting a significant growth across the northern region in India.