Snapping four-day falling streak, Indian equity benchmarks finished a choppy session higher by over half percent on Friday on renewed buying interest from foreign funds and firm global trends.  Key gauges made optimistic start and stayed in green for most part of the day, as sentiments got some support with the government data showed India's overall exports, merchandise and services combined, rose to $64.91 billion in June 2022, registering a year-on-year growth of 22.95 per cent. For the April-June 2022 period, the overall exports stood at $189.93 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 25.16 per cent over the same period last year. Some support also came as Crisil Ratings in its latest report stated that securitisation volumes increased by 70 per cent to Rs 35,000 crore in the April-June quarter of FY23 (Q1FY23) and the credit growth at non-banks may take the number to the pre-pandemic highs of Rs 1.9 lakh crore in FY23. It noted that the volumes were high in first quarter of FY23 primarily due to increase in economic activity, while the high growth came on the back of a low base. However, markets trimmed most of their initial gains in afternoon deals, as some concern came with the Finance Ministry in its monthly economic review report has said that India's current account deficit is likely to deteriorate in the current fiscal (FY23) on account of costlier imports and tepid merchandise exports. The review also said that global headwinds would continue to pose a downside risk to growth as crude oil and edibles, which have driven inflation in India, remain major imported components in the consumption basket. But, markets soon gained traction to close higher, as optimism remained among traders with the Ministry of Finance said in its latest Monthly Economic Review report that India's services sector has witnessed a broad-based recovery in sales revenues in both nominal and real terms during the January-March 2022 quarter 2022. The Information technology (IT) companies maintained strong growth while non-IT service companies continued to recover from the slump caused by the lockdown. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 344.63 points or 0.65% to 53,760.78 and the CNX Nifty was up by 110.55 points or 0.69% to 16,049.20.

The US markets ended significantly higher on Friday amid positive reaction to the latest earnings news, as some traders look to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels. Shares of Citigroup and UnitedHealth moved sharply higher after they reported second quarter earnings that exceeded street estimates. Traders also reacted positively to a slew of economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing retail sales jumped by more than expected in the month of June. The Commerce Department said retail sales shot up by 1.0 percent in June after edging down by a revised 0.1 percent in May. Street had expected retail sales to increase by 0.8 percent compared to the 0.3 percent dip originally reported for the previous month. Excluding sales by motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales still surged by 1.0 percent following a 0.6 percent increase in May. Ex-auto sales were expected to climb by 0.6 percent.  A separate report from the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a modest improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of July. The report showed the consumer sentiment index inched up to 51.1 in July from a record low 50.0 in June. The uptick surprised street, who had expected the index to edge down to 49.9. Inflation expectations also eased slightly, with one-year inflation expectations dipping to 5.2 percent in July from 5.3 in June and five-year inflation expectations slipping to 2.8 percent from 3.1 percent. The Labor Department also released a report showing U.S. import prices crept up by much less than expected in the month of June, with a continued surge in prices for fuel imports partly offset by a decrease in prices for non-fuel imports.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Friday amid reports that an increase in Saudi oil output is unlikely for now. Traders looked ahead to the outcome of U.S. President Joe Biden's meetings with top Saudi officials. Biden is likely to ask Saudi Arabia to ramp up oil production. Slightly easing fears about a sharp 100 bps rate hike by the Fed later this month, and the dollar's retreat from a new 20-year high contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. According to the report released by Baker Hughes, oil rig count in the U.S. increased by four to 756 this week. Benchmark crude oil futures for August delivery rose $1.81 or 1.9 percent to settle at $97.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for September delivery added $2.06 or 2.1 percent to settle at $101.16 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Erasing previous session drubbing, Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Friday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders were getting support after bank credit grew by 13.29 per cent to Rs 123.81 lakh crore and deposits by 9.77 per cent to Rs 169.61 lakh crore in the fortnight ended on July 1. Additional support came with the government data showed India's overall exports, merchandise and services combined, rose to $64.91 billion in June 2022, registering a year-on-year growth of 22.95 per cent. For the April-June 2022 period, the overall exports stood at $189.93 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 25.16 per cent over the same period last year. On the global front, dollar consolidated near a two-decade high on Friday as traders flirted with the prospect of a 100 basis point rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month. Finally, the rupee ended at 79.88 (provisional), stronger by 11 paisa from its previous close of 79.99 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 79.96 and 79.82 respectively.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 7115.69 crore against gross selling of Rs 6752.47 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 213.49 crore against gross selling of Rs 1103.32 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4.80 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.82 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Friday, ending several days of sell-offs with a rebound fueled by upbeat earnings, strong economic data and easing fears of a larger-than-expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Asian markets are trading mostly higher in early deals on Monday tracking the much-needed bounce on US markets. Indian equity benchmarks ended near day's high points on Friday as the government data showed India's overall exports, merchandise and services combined, rose to $64.91 billion in June 2022, registering a year-on-year growth of 22.95 per cent. Today, markets are likely to make gap-up opening on positive cues from global markets. Support may come in as SBI Research in its latest report has said that the income of farmers has grown in the range of 1.3-1.7 times in FY22 from the FY18 levels on average while grain exports soared to over USD 50 billion. For certain crops in some states (like soyabean in Maharashtra and cotton in Karnataka) farmers' income more than doubled in FY22 from FY18 levels. The increase in the income of farmers engaged in cash crops has been more prominent compared to farmers growing non-cash crops. Traders will be getting encouragement with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its article stating that the impact of US Federal Reserve's announcement in November last year to taper its asset purchases was moderate on Indian financial markets largely due to the country's strong external position in 2021. Traders may take note of report that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that the RBI remained net buyer of the US currency in May, after it purchased USD 2.001 billion on net basis from the spot market. The RBI purchased USD 10.143 billion from the spot market and sold USD 8.142 billion. However, there may be some cautiousness in the markets as Industry body Nasscom has said funding in startups dropped by 17 per cent on quarter-on-quarter basis to USD 6 billion (about Rs 47,800 crore) in the April-June period. There will some buzz in healthcare industry stocks as Indian Medical Association (IMA) wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting to grant exemption in Goods and Services Tax (GST) for healthcare services. IMA mentioned that the 47th GST Council meeting has recommended that Like CTEPs, common bio-medical waste treatment facilities for treatment or disposal of biomedical waste shall be taxed at 12 per cent so as to allow them ITC. IMA said these facilities were earlier in the GST exempted category and will be taxed post-July 18.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Cipla's wholly owned subsidiary and consumer healthcare arm -- Cipla Health has signed definitive agreements for acquisition of Endura Mass.
•  Kotak Mahindra Bank has completed its technical integration with the brand new e-filing portal.
•  State Bank of India has increased its marginal cost of lending rate on loans by 10 basis points or 0.10 per cent effective from July 15, 2022.
•  Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has completed successful trial of India's first 5G Private Network at Bosch Automotive Electronics India (RBAI) facility in Bengaluru.