Benchmark indices surged in the final hour of trading courtesy of the HDFC twins, who contributed to a third of the gains. The Nifty 50 index is now just 70 points away from its record high and would make another attempt at it during the June series F&O expiry session today. Global cues are positive and crude prices have also declined by nearly 2 percent overnight.

Speaking of positive global cues, the US markets ended higher on Tuesday with the Dow Jones snapping a seven-day losing streak. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also gained over a percent each. Positive surprises in macro data of consumer confidence, new home sales spurred sentiment. But the upbeat data indicates that the Federal Reserve will have to continue raising interest rates. The US central bank, which has already raised rates by 500 basis points since March 2022, signalled that two additional rate hikes were warranted this year. Watch out for any commentary from the ECB forum.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the cash market on Tuesday, while domestic investors sold nearly the same amount as the FII buy, thereby squaring each other off.

The National Stock Exchange has withdrawn its plan to shift the expiry of Nifty Bank derivative contracts to Friday from Thursday. The NSE on June 6 had shifted the expiry to Friday from Thursday so as to coincide with the expiry of Sensex and Bankex derivative contracts on Friday. BSE had requested NSE to shift the expiry to any other day except Friday, given the need for balanced market development and avoidance of concentration risk.

There is also an important SEBI meet today which will likely discuss the proposed TER changes and FPI disclosure norms. The regulator is also expected to discuss norms related to the reduction of the timeline for listing of shares in public issues from existing six days to three days.