After hitting all-time highs in intraday trade, Indian equity benchmarks took a breather and settled flat with a positive bias. The start of the day was on a strong note following overnight gains on Wall Street as well as mostly positive cues from Asian counterparts. But soon, markets cut gains and remained range-bound throughout the day, as foreign fund outflows dented domestic sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,631.63 crore on September 13. During the session, traders were cautious, as the European Central Bank is set to decide on Thursday whether to raise its key interest rate to a record peak in what should be its final step in the fight against inflation, or take a break as the economy deteriorates. The street took a note of reports that India's inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August 2023 at (-) 0.52% as against (-) 1.36% recorded in July 2023. Despite volatility, markets managed to end higher, after Fitch Ratings in its September update of the Global Economic Outlook has said that the Indian economy continues to show resilience despite tighter monetary policy and weakness in exports, with growth outpacing other countries in the region, retaining India's growth forecast at 6.3% for the current fiscal year (FY24). Investors digested the US consumer-price index data showing inflation picked up in August, but likely not by enough to prompt a September interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 52.01 points or 0.08 % to 67,519.00 and the CNX Nifty up by 33.10 points or 0.16% to 20103.10.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, with Dow Jones Industrial Average settling over 300 points. The strength on markets reflected a positive reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of August. The Commerce Department said retail sales climbed by 0.6 percent in August after rising by a downwardly revised 0.5 percent in July. Street had expected retail sales to inch up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.7 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. The bigger than expected increase in retail sales was largely due to higher gas prices, however, as sales rose by just 0.2 percent excluding sales by gas stations. A separate report released by the Labor Department showed producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in month of August. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand advanced by 0.7 percent in August after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in July. Street had expected producer prices to rise by 0.4 percent compared to the 0.3 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. On the sectoral front, steel stocks saw substantial strength on the day amid news of additional Chinese stimulus, resulting in a 3.1 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. Significant strength was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent gain posted by the KBW Bank Index.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Thursday, lifted by ongoing concerns over the outlook for tight global supplies. A report from the International Energy Agency earlier this week had said Russia and Saudi Arabia's move to extend their oil output cuts to the end of this year could result in a big deficit in global supplies from September through December. Further, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEX) said in its report said oil demand will rise this year, and there will be deficit in supply in the event of major producers continuing to cut production. Benchmark crude oil futures for October delivery surged $1.64 or 1.9 percent to settle at $90.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for November delivery rose $1.82 or 2 percent to settle at $93.70 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.  

Rupee settled lower against dollar on Thursday weighed down by a surge in crude oil prices and strong American currency overseas. Traders took note of report that India's inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August 2023 at (-) 0.52% as against (-) 1.36% recorded in July 2023. The negative rate of inflation in August is primarily due to fall in prices food products. On the global front, sterling was a touch softer but held above this week's three-month lows against the dollar on Thursday, having recovered some ground after a selloff in the previous session following weak UK economic data. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.03 (Provisional), weaker by 2 paisa from its previous close of 83.01 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net sellers in equity segment, while they were net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10355.88 crore against gross selling of Rs 12648.94 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1785.82 crore with gross sales of Rs 824.36 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 24.49 crore against gross selling of Rs 28.80 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday as investors cheered better-than-expected retail sales data and the blowout debut of chip designer Arm. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday as government data showed China's retail sales and industrial production picked up pace in August with better-than-expected growth. Indian markets after hitting all-time highs in intraday trade on Thursday, took a breather and settled flat. Today, domestic indices are likely to make optimistic start backed by upbeat global cues. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 294.69 crore on September 14. Traders take a note of report that domestic rating agency Icra said credit growth in the banking system's will moderate to 12.1-13.2 per cent in the current fiscal from 15.4 per cent in the year-ago period. It said asset quality improvement will continue, while the Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio is expected to come down to 2.8-3 per cent by March 2024, as against 3.7 per cent at the end of the June quarter. Meanwhile, Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Logistics, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) stated that India is aiming to further improve its ranking in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) to top 25 by 2030. India was ranked 44th on the index in 2018 and has now climbed to 38th in the 2023 listing. The country's performance has drastically improved from 2014, when it was ranked 54th on the LPI. Besides, the government has further reduced the stock limit on wheat traders, wholesalers and big chain retailers to 2,000 tonnes from 3,000 tonnes with immediate effect to control wheat prices which are showing uptick again after being stable for some time. Auto stocks will be in focus as Manish Raj Singhania, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada) said dealers in India currently maintain an average passenger vehicle (PV) inventory of 60 days, and they are content with it right now as they anticipate bumper sales during the upcoming festival season. There will be some reaction in NBFCs stocks with report that RBI has placed 15 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) under the upper layer as per scale-based regulation (SBR) for 2023-24, which includes the likes of LIC Housing Finance, Bajaj Finance, L&T Finance, Shriram Finance and Tata Sons. Edible oil industry stocks will be in limelight as industry body SEA data showed that India's vegetable oil imports rose 33 per cent year-on- year to 18.66 lakh tonne in August due to lower duties and a revival of demand after a fall in domestic rates. India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, imported 14.01 lakh tonne of vegetable oil in August 2022.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Tata Motors has launched Truck Utsav - a unique customer engagement initiative. 
• Larsen & Toubro and BAE Systems Inc have partnered to bring the world-leading Articulated All-Terrain Vehicle, the BvS10, to the Indian market. 
• Tech Mahindra has entered into a strategic partnership with Surance.io, an innovative personal cyber insurance platform. 
• Kotak Mahindra Bank's subsidiary -- Kotak General Insurance is offering a range of add-on coverage in car insurance to provide more comprehensive car protection for owners.