Indian equity benchmarks, after facing bouts of volatility during the session, ended with gains for the second consecutive day on Tuesday amid a largely firm trend in global markets. After opening in the negative territory, key gauges soon turned positive to trade with marginal gains as traders took support with Assocham's statement that India's economy is expected to navigate rough global weather in 2023 due to resilient consumer demand, better corporate performance and abating of inflation, even as the year is likely to be full of challenges and opportunities. Traders also took a note of the Ports, Shipping and Waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal's statement that public-private partnership in port infrastructure has been an important source of investment in the sector and the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) has a pipeline of 44 projects for total investment of Rs 22,900 crore till 2024-25. However, markets erased gains and once again fell into red terrain in afternoon deals, amid foreign fund outflows. Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold shares worth Rs 212.57 crore on January 2, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders were also concerned as the IMF chief has said that one third of the global economy will be in recession this year, and warned that 2023 will be tougher than last year as the US, EU and China will see their economies slow down. Some concern also came as the economic think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that the Indian economy and exports will be moderately impacted in 2023 by weak global demand and recession in large economies and to improve its current account, the country should aim at reducing energy import bill. GTRI said that in 2022, India will pay USD 270 billion in imports of crude oil and coal, which is about 40 per cent of total merchandise import bill. But, markets managed to end the session in green terrain led by Consumer Durables, Healthcare and IT stocks. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 126.41 points or 0.21% to 61,294.20 and the CNX Nifty was up by 35.10 points or 0.19% to 18,232.55.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday on concerns about the outlook for interest rates. Further, traders were reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of some key economic data later this week, including the closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. Reports on manufacturing and service sector activity may also attract attention in the coming days along with the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting. On the sectoral front, Energy stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, moving sharply lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for February delivery plunging $3.33 to $76.93 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index plummeted by 4.3 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index dove by 4.2 percent. A steep drop by the price of natural gas also weighed on natural gas stocks, dragging the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index down by 3.1 percent. On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a modest increase in U.S. construction spending in the month of November. The Commerce Department said construction spending crept up by 0.2 percent to an annual rate of $1.808 trillion in November after edging down by 0.2 percent to a revised rate of $1.803 trillion in October. The uptick surprised participants, who had been expecting construction to decrease by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.3 percent dip originally reported for the previous month. The unexpected increase in construction spending came as spending on private construction rose by 0.3 percent to an annual rate of $1.426 trillion. Spending on non-residential construction surged by 1.7 percent to an annual rate of $558.3 billion, more than offsetting a 0.5 percent drop in spending on residential construction to an annual rate of $868.0 billion.

Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Tuesday as growing concerns over a global recession and worries that surging COVID-19 cases in China will crimp demand. The fall for oil prices came as recession fears mount, with the International Monetary Fund expecting one-third of the world economy to enter a recession, while New York Fed President William Dudley says a US economic downturn is likely. Besides, data showing a drop in Chinese manufacturing activity also weighed on oil prices. According to a survey, China's factory activity deteriorated further at the end of the year as Covid containment measures together with softer demand forces manufacturers to downsize production. Benchmark crude oil futures for February delivery fell $3.33 or 4.2 percent at $76.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for March delivery dropped $3.81 or 4.4 percent at $82.10 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Rupee ended weaker against dollar on Tuesday, weighed by a strong greenback overseas and sustained foreign fund outflows. Sentiments got hit with IMF chief's statement that one third of the global economy will be in recession this year, and warned that 2023 will be tougher than last year as the US, EU and China will see their economies slow down. On the global front, U.S. dollar jumped on Tuesday with focus on the minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting, while the yen earlier hit a seven-month high on rising expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) might move away from its ultra-easy monetary policy. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.86 (Provisional), weaker by 8 paise from its previous close of 82.78 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3554.57 crore against gross selling of Rs 1893.04 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 38.90 crore against gross selling of Rs 44.44 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 1.39 crore against gross selling of Rs 2.75 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday with the biggest drags from Tesla and Apple, while investors worried about the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hiking path as they awaited minutes from its December meeting. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Wednesday amid investors await the US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, as well as the minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting due later today. Indian markets ended higher for the second consecutive day on Tuesday with financials and IT stocks leading the surge. Today, markets are likely to get flat-to-negative start tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. Investors will be eyeing the services PMI data to be out later in the day. Traders will be concerned as the economic think tank -- Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said the Indian economy and exports will be moderately impacted in 2023 by weak global demand and recession in large economies and to improve its current account, the country should aim at reducing energy import bill. There will be some cautiousness as Micro-Finance Institution Network (MFIN), a self-regulatory organisation (SRO) recognised by RBI, said that outstanding loan portfolio of the micro-finance institution (MFI) sector across India will increase around 20.3 per cent at Rs 3.25 lakh crore in 2022-23 compared to the previous fiscal. Traders may take note of a private report that forty Indian corporates raised Rs 59,412 crore through main board IPOs in calendar year 2022, half of the Rs 1,18,723 crore (all-time high) mobilised by 63 IPOs in 2021. There will be some buzz in the road logistics sector stocks as rating agency Icra revised its growth estimates for the Indian road logistics sector to 11-13 per cent for the current fiscal against the previous estimate of 7-9 per cent. The rating agency said the growth is supported by a strong demand environment, coupled with the continuation of firm freight rates. Aviation industry stocks will be in focus as the monthly domestic air passenger traffic touched 1.29 crore to cross the pre-COVID level in December 2022, and Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia termed it as a healthy trend and a good sign for the industry. There will be some reaction in M&E industry stocks as ratings agency Crisil said the Indian media and entertainment (M&E) industry may report a 12-14 per cent year-on-year growth in revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY24) to Rs 1.6 trillion, lower than the 16 per cent revenue growth likely in FY23. Leather industry stocks will be in limelight as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the government is considering a new scheme to support domestic manufacturing of machinery and accessories used in the leather industry. Meanwhile, Cash Management is likely to debut on the markets, amid muted response to the IPO (subscribed only 53 per cent).

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

Nifty Top volumes

• ONGC's iconic offshore drilling Rig -- Sagar Samrat has been commissioned as a Mobile Offshore Production Unit on December 23, 2022.
• L&T's construction arm -- L&T construction has secured repeat orders for its Water & Effluent Treatment Business from the Government of Madhya Pradesh.
• Bharti Airtel has launched its cutting edge 5G services in Indore.  
• SBI has received an approval for raising infrastructure bonds up to an amount of Rs 10,000 crore through a public issue or private placement, during FY23.