Indian equity bourses maintained their gains to end Monday's session in green terrain for the second consecutive day, with Sensex and Nifty gaining over 150 & 50 points, respectively. The markets made a negative start of the day, amid the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) data report showing that the country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $446 million to $428.604 billion in the week to August 30, mainly on account of a drop in foreign currency assets. But, soon indices turned positive, as Environment and forest minister Prakash Javadekar termed the present economic slowdown as a cyclical process. He said the government remains optimistic about near-doubling the economy size to $5 trillion by 2024. Firm trade persisted over the Dalal Street in the second half of the session, on the back of firm cues from global markets. Some support also came with a private report stating that the government has taken upon itself the task of giving the much-needed boost to the economy, by fast-tracking public spending, particularly CAPEX. Though, some gains got trimmed in the last hour of the trade, after credit rating agency, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) revised its sector outlook on non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) to negative from stable. Besides, the agency maintained its negative outlook on large ticket housing finance companies (HFCs). Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 163.68 points or 0.44% to 37,145.45, while the CNX Nifty was up by 56.85 points or 0.52% to 11,003.05.

The US markets ended choppy trading session mostly in green on Tuesday as a rally in energy, industrials and materials stocks overshadowed a selloff in momentum-driven technology shares, helping the Dow Jones Industrial Average extend its win streak to five sessions. Though, some cautiousness prevailed on the markets amid uncertainty ahead of the European Central Bank's (ECB) monetary policy decision on Thursday as well as next week's Federal Reserve meeting. Both the ECB and the Fed are expected to cut interest rates in reaction to recent indications of a slowdown by the global economy. Meanwhile, concerns about the US-China trade battle appear to have moved to the back burner for investors after being blamed for volatile market action in August. China has reportedly offered to buy more American agricultural products in exchange for a delay in upcoming tariffs and the easing of a ban against doing business with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies. On the economic front, the US National Federation of Independent Business said its small-business optimism index fell 1.6 points to a seasonally adjusted 103.1 in August, its worst showing since March. The rate at which Americans quit their jobs hit an all-time high in July, the Labor Department estimated, suggesting that workers are confident in the strength of the job market. Job openings fell slightly during the month, while layoffs remained at low levels.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Tuesday with traders taking some profits after recent strong gains. Oil prices also dropped after US President Donald Trump announced the firing of national security adviser John Bolton. A section of the market appears to believe the exit of Bolton might result in the Trump administration reviewing the sanctions imposed against Iran. However, lower side remained capped on optimism that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries, including Russia, would agree to extend production cuts in a bit to support prices. Benchmark crude oil futures for October declined 45 cents or 0.8 percent to settle at $57.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. November Brent fell 21 cents or 0.3 percent to settle at $62.38 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee pared most of its early gains and ended almost flat against dollar on Monday, as investors remained on sidelines ahead of the macro-economic data, factory output (IIP) for July and retail inflation (CPI inflation) for August, scheduled to be out on September 12. However, traders took some support with Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant's statement that states will have to become key agents of growth to help achieve India's target of becoming a $5 trillion economy. On the global front, euro stayed on the back foot on Monday, having dropped to a five-day low against the dollar overnight, as investors remained convinced the European Central Bank will introduce a new wave of monetary stimulus at its meeting on Thursday. Finally, the rupee ended at 71.71, 1 paise stronger from its previous close of 71.72 on Friday.

The FIIs as per Monday's data were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 3219.55 crore against gross selling of Rs 4471.57 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1756.03 crore with gross sales of Rs 1112.23 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 29.30 crore against gross selling of Rs 25.96 crore.

The US markets ended mostly in green on Tuesday with a rally in energy and industrial shares countering a drop in the technology and real estate sectors. Asian markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday as hopes of diminishing US-China tensions and reduced risk of no-deal Brexit prompted investors to take profit in risk-off trade ahead of key central bank policy meetings. Indian markets ended on firm note on Monday, with Sensex and Nifty settling above 37,100 and 11,000 levels, respectively, led by gains in financial stocks. Markets were closed on Tuesday on account of Muharram. Today, the start of session is likely to be in green following positive cues from Asian peers. Traders will be taking some encouragement with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that the government is not underestimating the slow Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and has full focus on how it can rise in the next quarter. She said the up and down are part of the growth process and the government is responding to the current economic challenges to revive demand and consumption in the country. Some support will also come as the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) forecasted that India's merchandise exports to increase from $81.4 billion to $82 billion, with an expected growth rate of 0.6 per cent from a year ago during the second quarter of 2019-20 (July-September). Though, there may be some cautiousness as Fitch Ratings forecasted India's economic growth at 6.6 percent during the current year, down from 6.8 percent in the previous year, and said the government has only limited room to ease fiscal policy because of high debt. It said GDP growth is likely to rebound to 7.1 percent next year. Banking stocks will be in focus with Moody's Investors Service's statement that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) mandating banks to link certain loans to the external benchmark-based interest rate from October 1 is credit negative to the lenders as it will limit their flexibility in managing risks. There will be some reaction in the non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) stocks as India Ratings revised its outlook for the NBFCs to negative from stable. There will be some buzz in the agriculture stocks with the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority's (APEDA) report showing that the country's agriculture exports dipped 14.39 per cent to $5.45 billion (about Rs 38,700 crore) in April-July this fiscal.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Reliance Industries is seeking a minimum price of $5.4 per unit for the natural gas it plans to produce from newer fields in the Bay of Bengal block KG-D6. 
• Tata Steel has signed a MoU with TERI for the third phase of Green School project that will increase the project's area of influence to 34 schools in Jharkhand and Odisha. 
• Tata Motors' wholly owned subsidiary -- JLR has reported 10% decline in August sales in US. 
• Infosys in collaboration with Microsoft has entered into strategic partnership with JG Summit Holdings, Inc, Philippines.