Indian equity benchmarks ended a choppy session marginally lower on Friday, extending losses to a second straight day. The benchmark indices started on a muted note and remained volatile throughout the day with a bearish ton. Traders were cautious amid a private report stating that the Finance Ministry's internal projections for what real gross domestic growth in FY23 could be, is lower than the 8-8.5 percent given out in the 2021-22 Economic Survey. Some pessimism also came with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva's statement that it was too early to say if the world was facing a period of sustained inflation, but warned that failure to make economies more resilient to future shocks could lead to big problems. Traders took note of a private report that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) may go for a hike of up to 0.25 per cent in the reverse repo rate at which the RBI absorbs excess liquidity and leave the repo rate at which it lends, to narrow the policy rate corridor. However, losses remain capped as traders got some support with CBDT Chairman J B Mohapatra said direct tax collections are expected to breach the revised target of Rs 12.50 lakh crore and set an all-time high and historic record by the end of this financial year in March. Some support also came in as economic think-tank NCAER said the business confidence has remained buoyant in the third quarter of the current financial year, though the pace of rise was moderated by a spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases in December 2021. Adding to the optimism, Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal said promoting exports through subsidies has not really given the desired results, but the government's RoDTEP scheme is helping grow exports which is expected to reach a record $400 billion this year. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 143.20 points or 0.24% to 58,644.82 and the CNX Nifty was down by 43.90 points or 0.25% to 17,516.30.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Friday with investors reacting to another batch of earnings updates, and digesting the non-farm payrolls data for the month of January. The tech-laden Nasdaq rebounded on account of strong earnings news from Amazon that lifted the stock's price up by a hefty 13.5 percent, the biggest single-session gain in about six years. Shares of social media company Snap Inc. skyrocketed nearly 14.5 percent, lifted by strong earnings. Pinterest soared more than 11 percent. Salesforce.com, JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs gained 2.5 to 3 percent. Microsoft, Walt Disney, Chevron and American Express also posted impressive gains. 3M, Wallgreens Boots Alliance, P&G, Home Depot, Visa, Walmart and Coca-Cola were among the notable losers. The Labor Department said employment jumped by 467,000 jobs in January compared to street estimates for an increase of 150,000 jobs. The report also showed the increase in employment in December was upwardly revised to 510,000 jobs compared to the previously reported 199,000 jobs. Meanwhile, the Labor Department said the unemployment rate inched up to 4.0 percent in January from 3.9 percent in December. Street had expected the unemployment rate to hold unchanged. Expectations for more aggressive tightening by the Federal Reserve lifted bond yields. The yield on long term U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose about the 1.9% mark for the first time in more than two years.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Friday and lifted the most active crude futures contracts to their highest close in over seven years. Oil prices surged higher on rising concerns over supply disruptions following a massive winter storm that blew across central and northeast United States disrupting oil production in the Permian Basin. Mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine contributed as well to the uptick in oil prices. A report from Baker Hughes showed US energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for a fifth week in a row for the first time since November. The oil and gas rig count rose three to 613 in the week to February 4, the highest level since April 2020. Benchmark crude oil futures for March delivery surged $2.04 or about 2.3 percent to settle at $92.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery rose $2.17 or 2.4 percent to settle at $93.28 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Snapping previous sessions drubbing, Indian rupee ended significantly higher against dollar on Friday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders were energized as Managing Director of IMF Kristalina Georgieva stated that the Union budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is a very thoughtful policy agenda for India and puts a great deal of emphasis on innovation in research and development on human capital investment and digitalization. Some support also came in as Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal stated that promoting exports through subsidies has not really given the desired results, but the government's RoDTEP scheme is helping grow exports which is expected to reach a record $400 billion this year. On the global front, euro was on track on Friday for its best week versus the dollar since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, after a hawkish turn by the European Central Bank (ECB) sent shockwaves through markets. Finally, the rupee ended at 74.69 (Provisional), stronger by 19 paise from its previous close of 74.88 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in equity segment, while net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4752.04 crore against gross selling of Rs 6848.51 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1267.69 crore with gross sales of Rs 1209.13 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 152.39 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.33 crore.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Friday after Amazon's positive earnings capped a run of mixed big tech numbers. Asian markets are trading mixed on Monday after strong US jobs data allayed concerns about the global economy though also added to the risk of aggressive tightening by the Fed. Indian markets continued to decline for a second straight day on Friday, dragged by financial, IT and oil & gas shares. Today, the markets are likely to make weak start amid mixed Asian cues. During the week, IIP data and RBI Monetary policy are important events that market participants will watch out for. Traders will be concerned as rating agency Moody's Investors Service said Indian economy's fiscal strength is unlikely to improve in the medium term, thus remaining a key credit challenge compared with peers, even as the FY23 budget's focus on capital expenditure will support near-term growth. Also, RBI data showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves declined by $4.531 billion to stand at $629.755 billion in the week ended January 28. In the previous week ended January 21, the reserves had decreased by $678 million to $634.287 billion. It touched a lifetime high of $642.453 billion in the week ended September 3, 2021. There will be some cautiousness as with a private report that in view of inflationary concerns, the Reserve Bank is likely to maintain the status quo on key policy rates in its next bi-monthly economic policy, which will be the first after the presentation of the Union Budget for 2022-23. However, some support may come as Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre has approved over 9,000 applications and sanctioned Rs 6,540 crore so far, for the development of agri-infra projects. Besides, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal termed the Union Budget 2022-23 as a direction-setting budget, addressing both macro-economic and micro-economic concerns and looking at an inclusive development. Traders may take note of report that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked India Inc to invest in the economy so that the virtuous cycle kicks in. Referring to the government's decision to cut corporate tax rate, she said, the government has also opened up many sectors including atomic energy and space. Hotel industry stocks will be in focus as India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said Covid-19's third wave is expected to have a benign impact on the hotel industry due to lesser restrictions along with the sector's pro-active preparation. Oil & gas, and aviation industry stocks will be in limelight as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre will move the issue of bringing aviation turbine fuel (ATF) under the GST net for discussion in the next meeting of the GST Council, as rising global fuel prices are a concern. Investors will be eyeing financial result for more clues. Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced rescheduling of rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting by a day in view of Maharashtra declaring public holiday on 7 February 2022 to mourn death of Bharat Ratna legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. The meeting was scheduled for 7-9 February 2022. With the postponement, the meeting will now begin on February 8 and the outcome would be announced on February 10.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Power Grid Corporation of India has received approval for two projects from its Committee of Directors on Investment on Projects for investments worth Rs 677.59 crore for transmission projects. 
• Axis Bank has partnered with Hero Electric. 
• ITC has reported a rise of 14.82% in its consolidated net profit at Rs 4,118.80 crore for Q3FY22 as compared to Rs 3,587.20 crore for Q3FY21.
• ICICI Bank has acquired additional stake in India International Clearing Corporation (IICC) at IFSC in GIFT City for Rs 4.43 crore.