Markets to make a positive but cautious start amid geo-political worries

The Indian markets after a lackluster trade ended marginally in red in the last session, as caution crept in ahead of a two-day policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve. Today, the start is likely to be in green though cautiousness will persist amid geopolitical tensions and ahead of U.S. monetary policy decision. There will be concern in the market with SBI Research stating that economy has been on a downslide since September 2016 and the slowdown is real and not technical, calling for more public spending to arrest the slide. The report advocated upping of spends by the government as a solution to the problem at hand. Meanwhile, exporters fearing that a staggering Rs 65,000 crore could get stuck in GST refunds have asked the government to fast-track the refund process and avoid further deterioration in their liquidity situation. The 22nd meeting of the GST Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, will be held on October 6 to deliberate on GSTN glitches and ironing out issues faced by exporters. There will be buzz in the telecom stocks, as  telecom regulator, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), more than halved the interconnect usage charge (IUC) from October 1 and said the fee will be scrapped from 2020, in a move that it said would benefit consumers. IUC has been reduced to 6 paise a minute from 14 paise a minute and to zero starting January 1, 2020. There will be buzz from the primary market too, as the SBI Life Insurance (SBI Life) Rs 8,400 crore initial public offering (IPO) set to hit the market today.

The US markets continued their record breaking spree and all three of the major averages ended the session at record closing highs in continuation of the upward momentum seen on Wall Street over the past several sessions. Though, there was some cautiousness ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Asian markets have made a mixed start and some of the indices are mildly in red, as investors girded for another round of geopolitical tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to annihilate North Korea.

Back home, Tuesday turned out to be a choppy day of trade for Indian equity benchmarks, with frontline gauges ending slightly in red, as traders remained on sidelines ahead of the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan’s meetings later this week. After a cautious start, frontline gauges traded near neutral lines swinging between green and red for most part of the day. Investors stayed away from picking any risky assets ahead of meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other top officials to take stock of the situation and the discussion for remedial measures to bolster growth. PM will analyse the economic situation with Jaitley and secretaries of the finance ministry and explore options to stimulate the economy. Some concern also crept in the market on report that the Centre could be forced to cut infrastructure spending, as GST glitches have hit revenue. Lower-than-expected tax collections and sluggish growth have upset the government`s budget calculations. However, losses remained capped as traders took some solace with Moody’s latest report that India is likely see increased foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on the back of reforms such as introduction of the goods and services tax and the bankruptcy code. Some support also came with Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the government has managed to save bank loans worth Rs 300,000 crore to the road sector from turning into non-performing assets (NPAs). Finally, the BSE Sensex slipped 21.39 points or 0.07% to 32,402.37, while the CNX Nifty was down by 5.55 points or 0.05% to 10147.55.