Indian equity benchmarks extended losses for second consecutive day on Friday in line with sell off in global markets. Markets opened with deep cuts and remained in negative territory for whole day as market participants remained on sidelines ahead of the industrial growth or Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data to be out later in the day. Traders also remained cautious with private report stating that retail inflation in India likely eased a bit last month but stayed above the Reserve Bank of India's upper threshold for a second straight month, keeping the central bank on course for further policy tightening. Some concern also came with the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) emerged as net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 561.78 crore. Sentiments remained dampened in late afternoon deals amid reports that stock investors wealth eroded by more than Rs 2.67 lakh crore in early trade on Friday, March 10, as the markets witnessed a sell-off amid weak global trends. Traders overlooked Union Minister for State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel's statement that India's merchandise and services exports combined in the current financial year ending March will be close to $760-770 billion. The country's merchandise and services exports stood at $672 billion in the last fiscal.  Traders also paid no heed towards Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's statement that the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) signed between India and Australia is a transformative agreement, which will unlock the next level of potential in trade and investment. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 671.15 points or 1.12% to 59,135.13 and the CNX Nifty was down by 176.70 points or 1.00% to 17,412.90.

The US markets ended lower on Friday, extending their previous session's losses, as tech-focused lender Silicon Valley Bank shut down following losses in its bond portfolio, prompting the biggest bank failure since the global financial crisis and sending shockwaves through the banking sector. Regulators took control of Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, after shares tumbled Thursday and the bank struggled on Friday to find another company to buy it. Regional bank stocks tumbled in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's demise, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF lost nearly 4.4%. For the week, the regional bank fund lost about 16%, its worst week since March 2020 as the pandemic hit. On the economic data front, a closely watched report released by the Labor Department showed employment in the U.S. jumped by much more than expected in the month of February. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 311,000 jobs in February after spiking by a revised 504,000 jobs in January. Street had expected employment to increase by 205,000 jobs compared to the surge of 517,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The stronger than expected job growth reflected notable increases in employment in the leisure and hospitality, retail, government, and healthcare sectors. Meanwhile, decreases in employment in the information and transportation and warehousing sectors limited the upside. Despite the stronger than expected job growth, the report said the unemployment rate rose to 3.6 percent in February from 3.4 percent in January. The unemployment rate was expected to be unchanged.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday as the dollar turned weak after data showed an uptick in U.S. unemployment rate in the month of February. Data from the Labor Department showed that the unemployment rate rose to 3.6% in February from 3.4% in January. The unemployment rate was expected to be unchanged. However, both benchmarks fell more than 3% on the week on U.S. interest rate hike jitters. Expectations of further rate hikes in the world's largest economy and in Europe have clouded the global growth outlook and driven both crude benchmarks down this week. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery rose $0.96 or 1.3 percent to $76.68 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery gained $1.19 or 1.5 percent to $82.78 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee settled higher against dollar on last trading day of the week. Traders got support with Union Minister for State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel's statement that India's merchandise and services exports combined in the current financial year ending March will be close to $760-770 billion. The country's merchandise and services exports stood at $672 billion in the last fiscal. On the global front, sterling rose on Friday after Britain's economy was shown to have grown by more than expected in January, further allaying fears of a recession. Dollar index was steady on Friday, a rare spot of calm in volatile global markets ahead of key U.S. payrolls data later in the day, while the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan kept stimulus settings steady. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.02 (Provisional), stronger by 4 paise from its previous close of 82.06 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 7624.27 crore against gross selling of Rs 8077.72 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 67.42 crore against gross selling of Rs 1237.66 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 6.51 crore against gross selling of Rs 3.17 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Friday after regulators sought to backstop all depositers in Silicon Valley Bank after customers withdrew over $42 billion worth of deposits. Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday tracking losses on Wall Street Friday overnight. Indian markets ended lower on Friday tracking losses in global markets with financial, oil gas led the headline indices lower, while Power and FMCG shares ended in the green. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start amid grim global cues, following Silicon Valley Bank crisis. Investors may remain on sidelines ahead of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data to be out later in the day. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent domestic sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold shares worth Rs 2,061.47 crore on 10 March, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. However, some respite may come later in the day as the government data showed that India's industrial production growth perked up slightly to 5.2 per cent in January from 4.7 per cent in December 2022, mainly due to good performance of the power, mining and manufacturing sectors. Sentiments may get a boost as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said net direct tax collection so far this fiscal grew 17 per cent to reach Rs 13.73 lakh crore, which is 83 per cent of the revised target for the full financial year. The growth in direct tax mop-up, which comprises personal income tax and corporate taxes, was driven by PIT collections. Some support may come as RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Ashima Goyal said Inflation is expected to come down over the year, and asserted that the government's supply-side action coordinated with a flexible inflation-targeting regime has kept the rate of price rise lower than that in other countries. Traders may take note of the Reserve Bank of India's statement that India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $1.46 billion to $562.4 billion as of March 3, arresting the four successive weeks of fall. There will be some buzz in the insurance industry stocks with report that the government may have to infuse more capital in the three public sector general insurance companies to improve their financial health. Banking stocks will be in focus as RBI showed that credit growth in the banking system has moderated further, growing at 15.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the fortnight ended February 24, to Rs 134.50 trillion. There will be some reaction in chemical industry stocks with a private report that India is likely to account for more than a fifth of incremental global consumption for chemicals over the next two decades as domestic demand is projected to rise to $1,000 billion by 2040. Auto stocks will be in limelight as SIAM said that exports of two-wheelers, passenger vehicles and three-wheelers from India declined by 35 per cent in February mainly due to the weakening of currencies against the US dollar in destination countries, especially in the African continent.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Reliance Industries' wholly owned subsidiary -- Reliance Polyester has completed acquisition of polyester business of Shubhalakshmi Polyesters and Shubhlaxmi Polytex.
• Axis Bank has entered into partnership with ITC to offer the bank's lending products and services to farmers who are a part of ITC's agriculture eco-system. 
• Wipro has been selected by Menzies Aviation, the world's largest aviation services company, to transform its air cargo management services.
• M&M is reportedly to sell 4.6 percent stake in automotive component supplier Mahindra CIE Automotive at a floor price of Rs 355 per share, via a block deal.