Defying a weak trend in the global markets, Indian equity benchmarks notched up impressive gains and scaled fresh all-time closing highs on Thursday, driven by broad-based buying. Markets made a cautious start but soon gained traction as the provisional data available on the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,603.15 crore, on 5 July. Some support also came with a report released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showing that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into India rose by 10 per cent to $49 billion in 2022, making it the third largest host country for announced greenfield projects and the second largest for international project finance deals. Some optimism also came with G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant's statement that high GDP growth of 8-9 per cent could be driven by focus on manufacturing and urbanisation. He added about 5,500 census towns need to have master planning, and sustainable urbanisation is the way forward, which is a huge opportunity to drive growth in India. He said the bulging middle class holds immense power to drive sustained economic, political and social growth in India. Markets extended gains in late afternoon deals, as sentiments remained up-beat with the Finance Ministry's statement that stellar macroeconomic management in the midst of unprecedented global challenges has put India on a quicker recovery path than has been the case in other nations. Monthly Economic Review for May and Annual Review of 2023 stated that investments in supply-side infrastructure have raised the possibility of India enjoying sustained economic growth longer than it has been able to do in several decades. Traders also took a note of Crisil Ratings' report stating that revenue of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector is expected to grow 7-9 per cent in current financial year (FY24), a tad slower than the 8-9 registered in the past two fiscals. It stated higher volume is expected to drive revenue growth, amid support from a gradual recovery in rural demand. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 339.60 points or 0.52% to 65,785.64 and the CNX Nifty was up by 98.80 points or 0.51% to 19,497.30.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as a batch of largely upbeat U.S. economic data added to concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Wednesday's hawkish Federal Reserve minutes. Payroll processor ADP released a report showing much stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of June. ADP said private sector employment spiked by 497,000 jobs in June after jumping by a downwardly revised 267,000 jobs in May. Street had expected private sector employment to increase by 228,000 jobs compared to the addition of 278,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. While the surge in private sector employment paints a positive picture of the economy, continued strength in the labor market may convince the Fed to resume raising interest rates. The Fed, which is due to announce its next interest rate decision later this month, has previously warned about the impact of labor market tightness. The Institute for Supply Management also released a report showing the pace of growth in the service sector accelerated by much more than expected in June. The ISM said its services PMI climbed to 53.9 in June from 50.3 in May, with a reading above 50 indicating growth in the sector. Street had expected the index to inch up to 51.0. On the sectoral front, Airline stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, resulting in a 3.8 percent nosedive by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Housing stocks also showed a significant move to the downside, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index plunging by 2.4 percent.

Crude oil futures ended flat on Thursday as fears of higher US interest rates that could dampen energy demand were offset by signs of tighter supply after a larger-than-expected fall in US oil stocks. Data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell by 1.508 million barrels in the week ended June 30. Gasoline stockpiles fell by 2.550 million barrels in the week, much more than an expected drop of 1.417 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles dropped by 1.045 million barrels, as against expectations for a increase of about 0.300 million barrels. Meanwhile, data released Wednesday by the industry group American Petroleum Institute showed that U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 4.4 million barrels in the week to June 30, far more than expectations for a draw of 1.8 million barrels. Benchmark crude oil futures for August delivery added $0.01 or about 0.01 percent to settle at $71.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. However, Brent crude for September delivery lost $0.13 or 0.16 percent to settle at $76.52 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Rupee settled lower against dollar on Thursday weighed down by a stronger American currency in the overseas market and elevated crude oil prices. Traders ignored report released by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) showing that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into India rose by 10 per cent to $49 billion in 2022, making it the third largest host country for announced greenfield projects and the second largest for international project finance deals. Besides, G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant said that high GDP growth of 8-9 per cent could be driven by focus on manufacturing and urbanisation. On the global front, dollar was holding its ground on Thursday, underpinned after the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting firmed bets for a rate hike this month, while a broad risk-off mood lent some support to the Japanese yen. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.47 (Provisional), weaker by 22 paise from its previous close of 82.25 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9199.42 crore against gross selling of Rs 6909.78 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1333.76 crore against gross selling of Rs 984.09 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6.44 crore against gross selling of Rs 9.76 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday in a broad sell-off after data showing a strong labor market boosted bond yields and fanned fears the Federal Reserve will be aggressive in raising U.S. interest rates. Asian markets are trading in red on Friday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. Indian markets ended at fresh all-time closing highs on Thursday, driven by unabated foreign fund inflows and buying in index major Reliance Industries. Today, domestic indies are likely to get cautious start amid negative moves across global markets. There will be some cautiousness as a study by researchers at the Reserve Bank of India said the surging prices of tomatoes can potentially disrupt India's inflation trajectory. However, foreign fund inflows likely to provide some support to markets. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) net bought shares worth net Rs 2,641.05 crore 6 July. Some support may come later in the day with report that concerns over the performance of southwest monsoon this year eased to a large extent on July 06, with rainfall deficiency declining to just 5% from over 40% a fortnight ago, and cumulative rainfall being predicted to reach normal level in the next 48 hours. Also, the Annual Economic Review for 2022-23 released by the finance ministry said that India appears poised to sustain its growth in a more durable way than before with the economy carrying the momentum from FY23 into the current fiscal year. Meanwhile, flagging the need to enhance the health of finances, Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das has asked state governments to focus on fiscal consolidation and improve quality of expenditure. There will be some buzz in insurance industry stocks as latest data released by General Insurance Council showed non-life insurance companies reported 14.01% growth in gross written premium in June to Rs 20,112.8 crore. Coal industry stocks will be in focus as Icra said India's coal production picked up in a big way during FY22 and FY23 resulting into improved availability and supply of the dry fuel, on account of various government initiatives towards the sector.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• JSW Steel has reported the crude steel production for Q1FY24 at 6.43 million tonnes, that grew by 11% as against 5.77 million tonnes in Q1FY23 on consolidated basis. 
• Bajaj Auto in collaboration with British motorcycle brand Triumph has launched their co-developed Triumph Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X motorcycles in the domestic market. 
• Maruti Suzuki has initiated exports of the newly launched model Fronx. 
• Tata Motors has achieved a significant milestone of 500,000 sales of the Tiago.