Indian equity benchmarks recovered most of their intraday losses but ended marginally in red amid subdued global cues and persistent selling by foreign funds. Key gauges made a gap-down opening, as traders got anxious with Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj's statement that excise duty cut on diesel and petrol prices will burden the government's coffers, but it has no plans to increase the borrowing immediately. Foreign fund outflow also weighted down on the domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 2,445.25 crore on November 9, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Traders remained cautious with private report stated that hiring demand witnessed a dip of three per cent in October sequentially, mainly due to a decline in recruitment of professionals in purchase, logistics and supply chain after festive hiring hikes in September. However, markets came off intraday low levels in late afternoon trading, as traders took some support with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that the country is poised to achieve a services export target of $1 trillion by the year 2030. He added that the sector provides employment to nearly 2.6 crore people and contributes around 40 percent to India's total global exports. Traders also took a note of report that the borrowing cost for the states has declined sharply to 6.81 percent at the weekly auctions held on November 9, mainly because they raised shorter tenor funds and 37 percent less than notified. Last week, the cost of debt for three states had peaked to the highest this fiscal at 7.02 per cent, up 12 bps over the previous week, despite most of the notified states drawing down less or not participating in the auctions. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 80.63 points or 0.13% to 60,352.82 and the CNX Nifty was down by 31.90 points or 0.18% to 18,017.20.

The US markets ended lower on Wednesday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session, after the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices increased by more than expected in the month of October, lifting the annual rate of price growth to its highest level in over thirty years. The report said the consumer price index jumped by 0.9 percent in October after rising by 0.4 percent in September. Street had expected consumer prices to climb by 0.6 percent. Excluding higher prices for food and energy, core consumer prices still increased by 0.6 percent in October after inching up by 0.2 percent in September. Core prices were expected to rise by 0.4 percent. The Labor Department also said the annual rate of growth in consumer prices accelerated to 6.2 percent in October from 5.4 percent in September, reaching the highest level since November of 1990. The annual rate of growth in core prices also accelerated to 4.6 percent from 4.0 percent, reflecting the biggest jump in prices since August of 1991. The acceleration in the rate of consumer price inflation raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates even though the Federal Reserve has signaled it will not be in a hurry to begin raising rates. On the sector front, substantial weakness was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.8 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index continued to give back ground after reaching a record intraday high in early trading on Tuesday. Steel stocks also extended the sharp pullback seen in the previous session, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 2.4 percent to its lowest closing level in over seven months.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower on Wednesday after data showed an increase in US crude stockpiles in the week ended November 5. Data released by US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the country rose by 1 million barrels last week. Further, the dollar's strength after data showing an acceleration in US consumer price inflation also weighed on crude oil prices. The dollar index rose to 94.84, up nearly 1%. Benchmark crude oil futures for December delivery dropped $2.81 or 3.3 percent to settle at $81.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for January delivery fell $2.45 or 2.88 percent to settle at $82.33 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended weaker against dollar on Wednesday, on account of sustained dollar demand from importers and banks. Sentiments were fragile as Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj's statement that excise duty cut on diesel and petrol prices will burden the government's coffers, but it has no plans to increase the borrowing immediately. Continuous foreign fund outflow also weighted down on the domestic sentiments. On the global front, dollar nudged up against major peers on Wednesday after weakening in the past three days with investors taking little risk ahead of U.S. inflation data which could shine some light on how fast the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates. Finally, the rupee ended 74.38, weaker by 33 paise from its previous close of 74.05 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10280.91 crore against gross selling of Rs 9649.03 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 201.33 crore with gross sales of Rs 543.39 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 20.89 crore against gross selling of Rs 25.29 crore.

The US markets closed lower on Wednesday as investor risk appetitive was curbed by surging consumer prices, which stoked worries of a protracted wave of hot inflation. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Thursday as inflation fears flare after data overnight showed US consumer prices surged at the fastest pace since 1990 last month, boosting the case for faster Federal Reserve policy tightening. Indian markets fell for a second straight day on Wednesday. Gains in oil & gas and automobile shares were offset by losses in financial and metal scrips. Today, markets are likely to open in the negative territory on the weekly F&O expiry day amid weakness in the global peers. Market participants will be awaiting the last leg of quarterly numbers from India Inc for cues. However, some respite may come later in the day as Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das exuded confidence in the economy clipping at the projected 9.5 per cent growth this fiscal, stating that growth impulses and the fast-moving economic indicators are strong. Crediting the many measures taken by the government and the RBI for the faster-than-expected recovery so far, Das said the fiscal and taxation reforms especially have played key role in driving growth and reviving confidence. Meanwhile, the central government increased the procurement price of all three categories of ethanol produced from different sources by 1.27-2.55 per cent for the 2021-22 season, which begins from December 1. Auto stocks will be in focus as Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the government is working on measures to increase the sales of electric vehicles and in the next two years the cost of EVs in India will drop to the level of petrol vehicles. There will be some reaction in sugar stocks as trade body AISTA said sugar mills have exported 2.76 lakh tonnes of sugar in the last 40 days of the current marketing year with maximum shipments to the UAE. Oil & gas sector stocks will be in limelight as Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said bringing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products under the single national GST regime will reduce taxes on these products and increase the revenue of both the Centre and states.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• M&M is planning to launch 16 EVs by 2027 across SUV and light commercial vehicle categories to strengthen its leadership position in India's electric mobility segment. 
• ITC's hospitality arm -- ITC Hotels has signed the first property Ekaaya in Udaipur under its new luxury brand mementos.  
• HDFC is planning to raise Rs 3,000 crore by issuing secured redeemable NCDs on a private placement basis.   
• Bharti Airtel and Oracle have extended their partnership to support the growth of India's digital economy by bringing a range of industry leading cloud solutions to more than 1 million enterprise customers.