Indian equity benchmarks snapped two-day winning streak and ended lower with losses of around half percent on Thursday, facing heavy volatility, amid emergence of profit-taking and negative trend in the US markets. Markets made a cautious start and traded with volatility in early deals as traders got anxious after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) restrained 135 entities from accessing the securities market and directed them to impound around Rs 126 crore of wrongful gains from alleged market manipulation done through bulk SMSes. Markets faced selling pressure at higher levels in afternoon deals, even as Fitch Ratings raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 6.3 per cent for current fiscal year 2023-24 from 6 per cent it had predicted previously. This is primarily because of a stronger outturn in the first quarter and near-term momentum. Traders paid no heed towards a report by rating agency CRISIL stating that the residential real estate sector across the top six cities of India - Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Kolkata, and Hyderabad - is expected to clock 8-10 per cent sales growth this fiscal year. It noted that buoyant residential demand across all segments has resulted in robust sales growth in the past two financial years. Traders also ignored provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showing that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 4,013.10 crore on June 21. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 284.26 points or 0.45% to 63,238.89 and the CNX Nifty was down by 85.60 points or 0.45% to 18,771.25.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 both snapping three-day losing streaks, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels. Buying interest have also been generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims held at their highest level since October 2021 last week. The report said initial jobless claims came in at 264,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. Street had expected jobless claims to edge down to 260,000 from the 262,000 originally reported for the previous week. Reflecting the upward revision to the previous week, jobless claims held at their highest level since hitting 269,000 in the week ended October 23, 2021. With the Federal Reserve repeatedly warning about the impact of labor market tightness, the data may have added to optimism the central bank will not follow through on plans to continue raising interest rates. On the sectoral front, retail stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index up by 1.8 percent to a ten-month closing high. Within the sector, shares of Overstock.com (OSTK) soared by 17.3 percent after the internet retailer won an auction to buy Bed Bath & Beyond's intellectual property and digital assets. Significant strength also emerged among software stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index. On the other hand, interest rate concerns weighed on banking stocks, dragging the KBW Bank Index down by 2.3 percent.

Crude oil futures ended deeply in red on Thursday as interest rate hikes and inflation concerns triggered growth worries and raised concerns about the outlook for fuel demand. Following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments that signaled more interest rate hikes by the U.S. Central Bank, the Bank of England announced a larger-than-expected 50-basis point hike in rates, and the Swiss National Bank raised its rate by 25 basis points. Oil prices fell despite data showing a drop in crude inventories. Data released by Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell by 3.8 million barrels last week, as against forecasts for a rise of 300,000 barrels. Benchmark crude oil futures for July delivery fell $3.02 or about 4.16 percent to settle at $69.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery dropped $2.98 or 3.86 percent to settle at $74.14 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee appreciated against the dollar on Thursday amid weak American currency against major rivals overseas. Traders got support as Fitch Ratings raised its forecast for India's economic growth to 6.3 per cent for current fiscal year 2023-24 from 6 per cent it had predicted previously. This is primarily because of a stronger outturn in the first quarter and near-term momentum. On the global front, Russian rouble strengthened on Thursday, nearing a one-week high against the dollar, supported by relatively high oil prices and the prospect of upcoming month-end tax payments. Dollar languished near a one-month low against a basket of currencies on Thursday, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck to his usual messaging at his semi-annual testimony, offering little room for surprise. Finally, the rupee ended at 81.96 (Provisional), stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 82.01 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 15078.54 crore against gross selling of Rs 9570.51 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 233.48 crore against gross selling of Rs 859.07 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4.89 crore against gross selling of Rs 15.34 crore.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday despite policy tightening fears from the U.S. to Norway and the U.K. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Friday as rate hikes from policymakers in England, Norway and Switzerland pushed global bond yields higher. Indian markets erased previous session gains and ended lower in a volatile session on Thursday amid selling across the sectors. Today, markets likely to start session on a weaker note amid mixed moves across global markets. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent domestic sentiments. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 693.28 crore on June 22. Traders will be concerned as the minutes of the June MPC released by the central bank revealed that sounding a note of caution, RBI's rate-setting panel member Jayanth R Varma opined that monetary policy is now dangerously close to levels at which it can inflict significant damage to the economy. There will be some cautiousness as the Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said that the slow monsoon was causing a delay in the sowing of oilseeds in the ongoing kharif season, which might impact production. It added area sown to oilseeds remained low at 0.41 million hectares till last week, as against 0.48 million hectares in the year-ago period. However, sharp fall in crude oil prices overnight may support the domestic indices to trim losses. Traders may take note of report that Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed G20 efforts to strengthen multilateral development banks (MDBs) to enable utilisation of their existing resources more effectively to address the global challenges of the 21st century. Defense stocks will be in focus after the U.S. and Indian leaders announced defense and technology deals, including a purchase of American spy drones. Power stocks will be in focus as highlighting that power demand grew by 10 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year, Union Minister R K Singh said the growth streak would continue. He added the demand grew by 8 per cent during the last financial year and they are hopeful it will grow further. Information Technology (IT) related stocks will be in limelight amid weaker than expected Q2 result from global tech giant Accenture.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement for acquisition of 283,400 (12.07%) equity shares in Egan Solar Power. 
• Reliance Industries' step down arm -- Reliance Consumer Products has expanded the consumer packaged goods brand INDEPENDENCE to the North India region. 
• L&T has signed a contract with DRDO for realisation of two Air Independent Propulsion System Modules for Kalvari Class of Submarines of the Indian Navy. 
• Axis Bank has launched its latest feature -- One-View -- on Axis Mobile Application.