Indian equity benchmarks trimmed most of their initial gains but managed to end at record closing highs on Friday, with Sensex closing above the 60,000 mark for the first time and Nifty ending above important level of 17,850. Decline in covid cases, rising vaccination and improvement in the economic environment of the country is fuelling the current Bull Run in the equity markets. Markets made optimistic start and traded in green throughout the session, taking support from union Minister Piyush Goyal's statement that the commerce ministry is trying to ease norms for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and make it simpler for units to exit these areas. The ministry is also looking at ways for partial de-recognition of existing SEZs so that areas which have no more demand can be used for industrial or other purposes. Solace also came with private report stating that with higher consumer confidence following the rise in vaccination levels and sitting on already-built-up-savings through the pandemic months, the top 20 per cent of upper-income consumers will help recover the near-term consumption demand. These consumers account for the bulk of the rural and urban demand. Sentiments remained positive in the noon session, taking support from former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia's statement that the Indian economy has bottomed out and the formal sector is likely to get back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of this year. He is in favor of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways. Adding to the optimism, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said India is becoming a global investment destination and the government is committed to providing a favourable policy framework. However, markets cut most of gains in final hour of trading session, as some cautiousness came with the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) stating that the recovery in employment after the pandemic-induced disruptions has been uneven, with job losses being concentrated among salaried employees and entrepreneurs. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 163.11 points or 0.27% to 60,048.47 and the CNX Nifty was up by 30.25 points or 0.17% to 17,853.20.

The US markets ended mostly higher in choppy trading session on Friday amid some uncertainty about the outlook for the markets following recent volatility. After moving sharply higher for two straight days, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. The Dow has climbed well off the three-month closing low set on Tuesday but remains sharply lower for the month of September. Traders also expressed uncertainty about the situation with China Evergrande, as the indebted property company has not provided clarification about a key interest payment. On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed an unexpected increase in U.S. new home sales in the month of August. The Commerce Department said new home sales jumped by 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 740,000 in August after spiking by 6.4 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 729,000 in July. The continued advance surprised market participants, who had expected new home sales to slump by 1.1 percent to a rate of 700,000 from the 708,000 originally reported for the previous month. With the unexpected increase, new home sales continued to recover after tumbling to their lowest level in over a year in June.

Crude oil futures ended higher for a fourth straight session on Friday amid tighter supplies. Recent data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and output disruptions in the Gulf of Mexico due to the impact of two hurricanes supported oil prices. The public auction of state crude reserves by China limited oil's advance. According to reports, PetroChina and Hengli Petrochemical bought four cargoes totaling about 4.43 million barrels in the auction. According to the data released by Baker Hughes, the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil climbed by 10 to 421 this week. The total active U.S. rig count, including those drilling for natural gas, climbed by 9 to 521. Benchmark Crude oil futures October delivery rose 68 cents or 0.9 percent to settle at $73.98 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for November delivery gained 84 cents or 1.1 percent to settle at $78.09 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.    

Erasing previous sessions gaining momentum; Indian rupee ended lower against dollar on Friday, on account of sustained dollar demand from importers and banks. Traders got cautious as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic's resurgence in recent months has dampened investors' sentiment in emerging East Asia even as accommodative policy stances have kept financial conditions stable, according to the latest issue of the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) Asia Bond Monitor. However, downfall remained capped as union Minister Piyush Goyal said the commerce ministry is trying to ease norms for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and make it simpler for units to exit these areas. On the global front, dollar hovered above a one-week low versus major peers on Friday, taking a breather after its biggest drop in almost a month overnight, as questions lingered about the fate of property developer China Evergrande Group. Finally, the rupee ended 73.68, weaker by 4 paise from its previous close of 73.64 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net buyer in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 15896.38 crore against gross selling of Rs 15280.70 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2256.42 crore with gross sales of Rs 907.58 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 52.04 crore against gross selling of Rs 82.44 crore.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Friday as the market cooled off following a two-day rally. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as investors were monitoring the stocks related to China Evergrande Group. Indian markets raced to new peaks on Friday with the Sensex index crossing the 60,000 mark. Today, start of new week is likely to be optimistic following positive cues from global markets. Some support will come as Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Indian economy is on a sustained path of revival and cited rise in GST collections and direct taxes to support her assertion. She further said that the confidence in the Indian stock market is growing as retail and small investors are keenly investing money in the share market. Sentiments will get boost as the Finance Ministry said net direct tax collection grew 74.4 per cent to Rs 5.70 lakh crore between April 1 to September 22 this fiscal. The net direct tax collection of Rs 5,70,568 crore after adjusting for refunds includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at Rs 3.02 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) at Rs 2.67 lakh crore. Separately, advance tax collection during the second quarter of the fiscal year grew over 50 per cent over the equivalent period in 2020-21, providing the government with additional spending power to fuel economic recovery after the disruption caused by the second Covid-19 wave earlier this year. Traders will be getting encouragement as Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat K Karad said the government plans to increase public sector undertakings' (PSUs) income and create employment through the disinvestment process. Additionally, a report by Care Ratings stated that rural demand is expected to get around Rs 11,000-crore boost from the record kharif harvest along with the marginal hike in minimum support price. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank has issued Master Direction on loan transfer, requiring banks and other lending institutions to have a comprehensive board-approved policy for such transactions. However, traders may be concerned as India recorded a spike of 27,000 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The country also witnessed 280 deaths, taking the death toll to 447,225. So far, India has recorded 33,678,243 corona cases in total. There may be some cautiousness as RBI data showed the country's foreign exchange reserves declined by $1.47 billion to $639.642 billion in the week ended September 17.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• UltraTech Cement has set target to meet 100 per cent of its electricity requirement through renewables sources by 2050. 
• Reliance Industries has joined hands with CSIR-NCL. 
• Coal India's subsidiary -- Northern Coalfields has joined hand with power major NTPC to install a 50 MW solar power project in Madhya Pradesh. 
• Tata Motors has recorded a remarkable feat of on-boarding its 10,000th EV customer.