Indian equity benchmarks held on to strong gains throughout the session and ended with gains of around two percent on Thursday amid a broad-based rally, as the Fed's first rate hike in more than three years and upbeat commentary on the world's largest economy boosted global shares. In line with the previous session, the benchmark opened gap-up, as sentiments got a boost with a private report stating that private equity and venture capital investments for the month of February 2022 were about $5.8 billion, 2.3 times the value recorded in February 2021 ($2.5 billion) and 24 per cent higher than investments in January 2022 ($4.6 billion). Sentiments remained upbeat with Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel's statement that the bilateral trade in goods is projected to increase from the current $60 billion to $100 billion annually within five years of the implementation of the India-UAE free trade agreement. Some solace also came in as the income tax department said income tax refunds worth over Rs 1.92 lakh crore have been issued to more than 2.24 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. Buying further crept in as commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal stated that India's merchandise exports have reached almost $390 billion as of March 14 and will cross $400 billion in the current financial year. Besides, exchange data showed foreign institutional investors turned net buyers after their recent selling spree, picking up shares worth Rs 311.99 crore on Wednesday. Market participants paid no heed towards Credit rating agency, Moody's Investors Service in its Global Macro Outlook 2022-23 (March 2022 Update) has lowered India's growth estimate by 0.4 percentage point for the current year to 9.1 per cent, from 9.5 per cent earlier, as the agency is expecting high fuel and potentially fertilizer costs would weigh on government finances down the road, potentially limiting planned capital spending. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry has recommended the continuation of anti-dumping duty on Chinese aluminium foil, used in food and pharma sectors, for five years to guard domestic players from cheap imports. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1047.28 points or 1.84% to 57,863.93 and the CNX Nifty was up by 311.70 points or 1.84% to 17,287.05.

The US markets extended their rally for fourth straight session on Friday. The markets continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, with the major averages recovering from the sell-off sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Traders also kept an eye on the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, as ongoing peace talks have thus far failed to yield a breakthrough. President Joe Biden spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the conflict, with the White House saying Biden described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia. On the economic data front, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback in U.S. existing home sales in the month of February. NAR said existing home sales plunged by 7.2 percent to an annual rate of 6.02 million in February after surging by 6.6 percent to a revised rate of 6.49 million in January. Street had expected existing home sales to tumble by 6.2 percent to a rate of 6.10 million from the 6.50 million originally reported for the previous month. The steeper than expected pullback came after existing home sales reached their highest annual rate in a year in January. A separate report from the Conference Board showed its U.S. leading economic index rose by slightly more than expected in the month of February. The Conference Board said its leading economic index increased by 0.3 percent in February after falling by a revised 0.5 percent in January. Street had expected the leading economic index to edge up by 0.2 percent compared to the 0.3 percent drop originally reported for the previous month.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Friday as ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia failed to yield a breakthrough. The White House reportedly warned Beijing that providing military or economic assistance for Russia's invasion of Ukraine will trigger severe consequences from Washington and beyond. According to a report from Baker Hughes, U.S. energy firms this week reduced the number of oil rigs even as crude prices continued to trade over $100 a barrel after Russia's invasion of Ukraine stoked global energy supply concerns. Oil rig count dropped by 3 this week, the second decline in three weeks. Despite the decline in oil rigs, the total rig count remained unchanged because drillers added some natural gas and other rigs this week. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery rose $1.72 or 1.7 percent to settle at $104.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery added $1.08 or 1.01 percent to settle at $107.72 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Continuing previous session gains, Indian rupee ended substantially stronger supported by positive domestic equities and broad dollar weakness. The rupee registered the best weekly gain after December 24, amid rebound in risk-sentiments, stable crude oil price and inflows from foreign funds. The rupee strengthen as the dollar weakened after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to hike interest rates. The U.S. central bank has raised rates by 25 basis points (bps) and mentioned similar hikes in the way forward. Traders cheered Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Anupriya Patel's statement that the bilateral trade in goods is projected to increase from the current $60 billion to $100 billion annually within five years of the implementation of the India-UAE free trade agreement. On the global front, euro gave up some gains on Thursday with investors closely watching any developments in talks between Russia and Ukraine, while the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions failed to affect the market as the bar for a hawkish surprise was high. Finally, the rupee ended at 75.84, stronger by 37 paise from its previous close of 76.21 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9079.87 crore against gross selling of Rs 8538.50 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 111.54 crore with gross sales of Rs 550.70 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8.50 crore against gross selling of Rs 22.38 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Friday as investors digested Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine war. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as investors clung to hopes for an eventual peace deal in Ukraine, but the fighting raged on with no sign of stopping. Indian markets ended higher on Thursday amid a broad-based rally, as the Fed's first rate hike in more than three years and upbeat commentary on the world's largest economy boosted global shares. Markets remained closed on Friday due to Holi. Today, the markets are likely to get positive start following gains in global markets. Investors continue to watch out for the developments of the Russia Ukraine conflict and the ongoing negotiations between the two. Traders will be taking encouragement with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that India's merchandise exports have reached almost $390 billion as of March 14 and will cross $400 billion in the current financial year. Some support will come as India's collection from tax on personal and corporate income jumped over 48 per cent in the current fiscal after a 41 per cent surge in advance tax payments, mirroring sustained economic recovery in a year that witnessed two waves of coronavirus infections. Meanwhile, the government is working on classification of cryptocurrency as goods or services under the GST law, so that tax can be levied on the entire value of transactions. Currently, 18 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) is levied only on service provided by crypto exchanges and is categorised as financial services. However, some cautiousness may come as according to the latest data from the RBI, the country's foreign exchange reserves declined $9.646 billion to $622.275 billion in the week ended March 11. There will be some buzz in the sugar industry stocks as industry body ISMA said sugar exports have jumped over 2.5 fold between October 2021 and February this year to 47 lakh tonnes on higher production and better demand of the Indian sweetener in the global market. Sugar marketing year runs from October to September. FMCG stocks will be in focus as the Fast Moving Consumer Group companies are mulling another round of price hike to offset the impact of an unprecedented level of inflation in commodity prices such as wheat, palm oil and packaging materials.  There will be some reaction in gold related stocks as World Gold Council said India's gold mine production stood at a mere 1.6 tonnes in 2020 but could rise to 20 tonnes per year in the long-term. Besides, the commerce ministry has recommended the continuation of anti-dumping duty on Chinese aluminium foil, used in food and pharma sectors, for five years to guard domestic players from cheap imports.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• M&M has planned to increase its stake in Carnot Technologies to 52.69 per cent with an investment of around Rs 14 crore. 
• Kotak Mahindra Bank has entered into a MoU with Business France to support companies in the Indo-French corridor and promote business and the start-up ecosystem in India and France. 
• IOC's board has accorded approval for implementation of Poly-Butadiene Rubber Project at its Naphtha Cracker Complex at Panipat, Haryana at an estimated investment of Rs 1459 crore. 
• SBI is planning to set up an Innovation, Incubation and Acceleration Centre at Hyderabad.