Indian equity benchmarks witnessed biggest single-day gain ever in absolute terms on Tuesday by rallying over eight and half percent in the session, tracking gains in Asian markets, even as domestic Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the country. Key gauges opened with a strong gap on the upside and traded jubilantly for whole day as traders took encouragement with report that the Finance Ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion. Some solace also came in as to ensure adequate liquidity in the system, especially in the corporate bond market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the third targeted long-term repo operation (TLTRO) on April 7 for Rs 25,000 crore. Markets continued their strong bullish momentum in late trade as the commerce ministry designed an online platform for issuance of a key document required for exports to those countries with which India has trade agreements, with a view to facilitate shipments during the COVID-19 crisis. Traders ignored Fitch Ratings' statement that it has slashed India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to a 30-year low of 2%, from 5.1% projected earlier, as economic recession gripped global economy following the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. Investors also paid no heed towards a report that India's services sector growth contracted in March after registering the strongest rise in business activity for over seven years in February, as the covid-19 outbreak dented client demand, particularly in overseas markets. Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.3 from 57.5 in February. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 2476.26 points or 8.97% to 30,067.21, while the CNX Nifty was up by 708.40 points or 8.76% to 8,792.20.

The US markets ended marginally lower on Tuesday as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed that coronavirus deaths in his state spiked by 731 on Monday, reflecting the biggest one-day increase. Pharmaceutical stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the session, with the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index slumping by 1.7 percent after ending Monday's trading at its best closing level in nearly a month. However, downside remained capped as traders reacted to recent signs that the spread of the coronavirus is slowing in hot spots such as New York. President Donald Trump expressed optimism during the daily White House coronavirus, saying, there is tremendous light at the end of the tunnel. Trump noted ten potential coronavirus treatments are currently in active trials, with some looking incredibly successful. On the economic data front, Consumer credit in the US jumped much more than expected in the month of February, according to a report released by the Federal Reserve. The Fed said consumer credit surged up by $22.3 billion in February after climbing by $12.1 billion in January. Street had expected consumer credit to increase by $14.0 billion. The bigger than expected increase came as non-revolving credit, such as student loans and car loans, jumped by $18.1 billion in February after increasing by $14.5 billion in January. Revolving credit, which largely reflects credit card debt, also rose by $4.2 billion in February after dipping by $2.4 billion in the previous month. 

Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Tuesday, magnifying their previous session's losses, after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) lowered its forecast for crude oil prices for the year. The EIA slashed its West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price forecast for 2020 to $29.34 a barrel, down more than 20 percent from last month's forecast. The EIA also cut its crude production forecast, saying it now expects US crude oil production of 11.76 million barrels a day compared to it previous forecast for 12.99 million barrels a day. Crude oil futures for May dropped $2.45 or 9.4 percent to settle at $23.63 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June Brent crude declined $1.18 or 3.6 percent to settle at $31.87 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee bounced back to end higher against the US currency on Tuesday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments turned optimistic with report that the Finance Ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion. The local currency also benefited from a strong rally in local equities as well as subdued greenback overseas. Traders overlooked Fitch Ratings' statement that it has slashed India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to a 30-year low of 2%, from 5.1% projected earlier, as economic recession gripped global economy following the lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. On the global front, dollar fell against the yen on Tuesday as underlying concerns about the economic shock wrought by the coronavirus crisis kept many investors on edge. Finally, the rupee ended at 75.64, 49 paise stronger from its previous close of 76.13 on Friday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 7157.31 crore against gross selling of Rs 9405.51 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 560.37 crore with gross sales of Rs 1780.73 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 506.47 crore against gross selling of Rs 7.14 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed that coronavirus deaths in his state spiked by 731, reflecting the biggest one-day increase. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Wednesday as investors continue to weigh signs of a slowing rate of the Covid-19 spread against more deaths. Indian markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday as investors looked for more central bank and government stimulus to counter the economic fallout from the pandemic. Today, the markets are likely to get negative start amid weakness in global peers. Investors may react to reports suggesting that the government is mulling extending the nationwide coronavirus lockdown beyond April 14 amid requests from the States. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India stands at 4,789 as the country entered the fifteenth day of a 21-day countrywide lockdown to curb the spread of the deadly disease. Around 124 people have died due to the disease. There will be some cautiousness as ratings agency ICRA predicted that India's economy is likely to witness a sharp contraction of 4.5 per cent during Q4FY2020 and is expected to post a GDP growth of just 2 percent in FY2021. Traders may take note of former finance secretary Subhash Chandra Garg's statement that the Centre may need to borrow 2-2.5 per cent of GDP or about Rs 4-5 lakh crore additionally for supporting people and businesses hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and nationwide lockdown. Meanwhile, to provide greater flexibility to state governments to tide over cash flow mismatches, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the number of days for which a state or a Union Territory (UT) can be in overdraft at a stretch to 21 working days from 14 at present. Sugar stocks will be in focus amid private report that sugar mills have urged government-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) to float the third tender for ethanol procurement because of the expectations of excess production of the green fuel on additional quantity of cane being crushed this season. 

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

Nifty Top volumes

• JSW Steel has started preparing to scale up its production, as the 21-day lockdown period is nearing end. 
• Coal India has maintained supplies due to COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown, despite default by some generating companies. 
• Larsen & Toubro's construction arm -- L&T construction has secured a large order for its Smart World a Communication Business from the Indian Army.
• Britannia Industries has teamed up with on-demand e-commerce platform Dunzo on home delivery of all its products.