Indian equity markets are likely to make gap-down opening on Wednesday amid a global selloff triggered by the crisis in the Middle East. Traders are likely to adopt wait-and-watch ahead of release of the HSBC Composite PMI Final data. Additionally, some cautiousness may come from foreign institutional investors, who were net sellers of shares worth Rs 3,295.64 crore on Monday. Markets remained closed on Tuesday on account of Holi.

Some of the key factors to be watched: 

IIP growth slows to 4.8% in January: The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation in its latest report has showed that Index of Industrial Production (IIP) recorded a 4.8% year-on-year growth in January 2026, which is lower than 7.8% (Quick Estimate) growth in the month of December 2025. 

Inter-ministerial group closely monitoring developments in West Asia: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the government has set up an inter-ministerial group to monitor developments in West Asia on a daily basis and assess potential vulnerabilities in shipping, logistics, exports and critical imports. 

India, Canada sign 5-year MoU to boost agri-food research cooperation: India and Canada strengthened bilateral cooperation in the agri-food sector with the signing of a five-year MoU between the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management-Kundli (NIFTEM-K) and the University of Saskatchewan (USask). 

Gold-loan NBFC profitability robust: Crisil Ratings report said profitability of gold loan-focused non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) is set to remain healthy at 4.25-4.5 per cent in FY26 and FY27, aided by strong loan growth, improving operating leverage and low credit costs.

Telecom stocks will be in watch: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said the cumulative gross revenue of telecom service providers crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark in the December 2025 quarter to Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

On the global front: The US markets ended in red on Tuesday amid concerns about the fallout from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.  Asian markets are trading in red on Wednesday following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks closed deep in red on Monday, as investors' sentiments were hit hard following a sharp spike in crude oil prices amid escalating tensions in West Asia. Weak trends in global markets and heavy foreign fund outflows also dented sentiments. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 1048.34 points or 1.29% to 80,238.85 and the CNX Nifty was down by 312.95 points or 1.24% to 24,865.70.

Some of the important factors in trade: 

India manufacturing PMI jumps to 56.9 in February: The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 55.4 in January to a four-month high of 56.9 in February. 

FDI equity inflow in India grows 18%YoY during April-December 2025-26: The Foreign direct investments (FDI) equity inflow in India grew by 18% to $47.87 billion during April-December 2025-26 (9MFY26) as compared to $40.67 billion in April-December 2024-2025. 

India’s FY27 growth projection revises upwards to 7-7.4%: After revision of base year for GDP calculation, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has said that the economic growth projection is revised upwards by 20 basis points to 7-7.4 per cent for FY27 from 6.8-7.2 per cent previously.