Indian markets continued their winning run for the second straight day and ended with gains of over a percent on Tuesday, amidst positive global cues as governments across the world started easing economic lockdown. Key indices made an optimistic start, as traders took encouragement with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined that the lockdown has yielded positive results as the country has managed to save thousands of lives in the past one and a half months. Some support also came as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) received Rs 64,746 crore worth of bids or more than six times the amount it proposed to buy government bonds through the special open market operation (OMO). However, the markets trimmed most of gains in early noon session, as CRISIL, domestic rating agency, has nearly halved its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for India to 1.8 percent for FY21 while projecting total losses of Rs 10 lakh crore or Rs 7,000 per person due to disastrous lockdowns to control COVID-19 pandemic. It warned lockdowns are showing a disastrous impact on the economy and could lead to a permanent loss of GDP, unemployment and poverty, despite relief packages. But, key indices regained momentum to end with decent gains taking support from a private report that the central government is considering a proposal to guarantee as much as Rs 3 trillion ($39 billion) of loans to small businesses as part of a plan to restart economy, which is reeling under the impact of a 40-day lockdown. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 371.44 points or 1.17% to 32,114.52, while the CNX Nifty was up by 98.60 points or 1.06% to 9,380.90.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as some traders to cash in on recent strength in the markets. Cautiousness on markets came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at near-zero levels, although the central bank could provide additional guidance regarding how long it plans to keep rates at their current levels. However, downside remained capped on optimism that the US is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the coronavirus pandemic. A number of states such as George, South Carolina and Colorado have already stated reopening, while other states like New York have announced plans to begin reopening in the coming weeks. President Donald Trump's administration has also unveiled a plan to ramp up testing, which experts have said is the most important step toward reopening the economy. On the economic data front, Consumer confidence in the US deteriorated significantly in the month of April, according to a report released by the Conference Board, although the report also showed an improvement in consumer expectations. The Conference Board said its consumer confidence index plunged to 86.9 in April after tumbling to a downwardly revised 118.8 in March. Street had expected the index to plummet to 90.0 from the 120.0 originally reported for the previous month. The steep drop by the headline index came as the present situation index showed a record nosedive to 76.4 in April from 166.7 in March. Consumers saying current business conditions are good slumped to 20.8 percent from 39.2 percent, while those climbing conditions are bad spiked to 45.2 percent from 11.7 percent.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Tuesday on concerns about outlook for global energy demand and excess supply in the global market. As the virus pandemic continues to ravage global economies, it is highly unlikely that demand for oil will see any significant increase in the near to medium term. Meanwhile, the United States Oil Fund LP said it would exit its position in the front-month June crude oil futures contract and may need to hold more cash to satisfy potential margin requirements. However, oil prices rebounded from lower levels following a report that a bomb exploded on an oil tanker in Syria. Crude oil futures for June dropped 44 cents or 3.4 percent to settle at $12.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, June Brent crude gained 47 cents, or 2.4 percent to settle at $20.46 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee gave up all of its initial losses and managed to end marginally higher against dollar on Tuesday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders took encouragement with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined that the lockdown has yielded positive results as the country has managed to save thousands of lives in the past one and a half months. Healthy gains in domestic equities and weakening of the greenback in overseas markets also supported the Indian currency. However, gains remain capped as CRISIL, domestic rating agency, has nearly halved its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for India to 1.8 percent for FY21 while projecting total losses of Rs 10 lakh crore or Rs 7,000 per person due to disastrous lockdowns to control COVID-19 pandemic. It warned lockdowns are showing a disastrous impact on the economy and could lead to a permanent loss of GDP, unemployment and poverty, despite relief packages. On the global front, dollar steadied on Tuesday as currency markets entered a holding pattern ahead of US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings later this week and as a fresh tumble in oil prices cautioned against risk taking. Finally, the rupee ended at 76.18, 7 paise stronger from its previous close of 76.25 on Monday.

The FIIs as per Tuesday'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 3983.52 crore against gross selling of Rs 4754.15 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2185.50 crore with gross sales of Rs 1638.61 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10.00 crore against gross selling of Rs 6.61 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Tuesday as technology stocks took a hit ahead of earnings reports while investors weighed moves to reopen the economy in coming weeks. Asian markets are trading in green on Wednesday as investors await the US Federal Reserve's decision on interest rates, expected later on Wednesday stateside. Indian markets ended sharply higher on Tuesday as financials extended gains from the previous session following the RBI's announcement of Rs 50,000 crore liquidity facility for mutual funds. Today, the markets are likely to make positive start following gains in Asian peers. Traders will be getting some encouragement with private report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to announce this week a second stimulus for the economy hit by a nationwide lockdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, concluding multiple rounds of discussions within the government. Traders may take note of report that the Asian Development Bank has approved a $1.5 billion (about Rs 11,400 crore) loan to India to help fund its response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, including support for immediate priorities such as disease containment and prevention, as well as social protection for the poor and economically vulnerable sections. Though, investors may be concerned with report that the total number cases of coronavirus cases in India has risen 31,324, and 1,008 people have died from the fatal disease so far, according to Worldometer data. There may be some cautiousness as Moody's Investors Service cut India's growth forecast to 0.2% for 2020 from its earlier projection of 2.5%. The rating agency had earlier slashed growth estimate from 5.2% to 2.5% after the government ordered a nationwide lockdown for 21 days to contain the coronavirus. Also, Fitch Ratings said India's sovereign rating of BBB- could come under pressure with a deteriorating fiscal outlook arising from weaker growth due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown. Meanwhile, Market regulator Sebi said it has invited proposals from researchers to commission a study on various issues of stock markets. There will be some reaction in auto stocks with Crisil's report that auto sales are likely to remain muted as consumers may not flock to dealerships and even avoid shopping malls and markets due to the fear of coronavirus infection for an extended period post lockdown. Metal stocks will be in focus with the steel ministry's report that India's crude steel production fell 23% to 7.38 million tonne (MT) in March as compared to the previous month, while export and import also took a beating due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. There will be lots of earnings reaction based on the performance of the companies. 

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Axis Bank has received approval from its board of directors to acquire 29% stake in Max Life Insurance Company. 
• Digitate, a software venture of TCS, has launched ignio Cognitive Procurement to help enterprises make smarter purchase decisions and take action faster.
• Bharti Airtel has signed multi-year agreement with telecom gear maker Nokia to deploy Nokia's SRAN solution across nine circles in India. 
• Tata Steel has received approval to raise Rs 1,000 crore and allotted 10,000 - 7.70% Unsecured, Rated, Listed, Redeemable, Floating Coupon, NCDs of face value of Rs 10,00,000 each, to identified investor on private placement basis.