Snapping a three-day losing streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on Friday, led by a strong buying support in the index heavyweights ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and Dr. Reddy's Lab. After making positive start, key indices swung between losses and gains, as traders got anxious with the finance ministry said the current elevated level of international crude price, should it persist for a long time, may come in the way of India achieving a real economic growth rate of 8%-plus in FY23 and pose upside risks to inflation as well. But, markets rallied sharply in afternoon deals, as the monetary policy committee (MPC) decided to hold repo rate at 4% and the reverse repo rate at 3.35%. While the RBI's rate-setting panel maintained its accommodative stance, it also voted unanimously to focus on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth. Sentiments were also upbeat as RBI Governor Bimal Jalan has said that the country's economy is in good shape as India's GDP growth rate and foreign exchange reserve are high. Notwithstanding economic uncertainties triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war that is also impacting the global supply chain, Jalan said it is not going to affect India's economic performance. Some solace also came with a private report that with the e-way bills generated for inter-state trade in goods under the goods and services tax (GST) regime touching a record in March, the monthly GST collections will likely hit an all-time high of around Rs 1.5 trillion in April (March transactions). Adding to the optimism, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj has said India's tax collections soared to a record high of Rs 27.07 lakh crore in the fiscal year ended March 31 (FY22) compares with budget estimate of Rs 22.17 lakh crore. The rise in tax collections was mainly on account of jump in mop-up from income and other direct taxes as well as indirect taxes. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 412.23 points or 0.70% to 59,447.18 and the CNX Nifty was up by 144.80 points or 0.82% to 17,784.35.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday. Considerable weakness among semiconductor stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tumbled by 2.4 percent. Airline, networking and tobacco stocks also moved to the downside on the day, offsetting the strength in the resource sectors. However, Home Depot (HD) helped lead the Dow higher on the day, while financial giants Goldman Sachs (GS) and JPMorgan (JPM) also posted strong gains amid a continued increase in treasury yields. Energy stocks also moved sharply higher on the day, benefiting from a significant increase by the price of crude oil. On the economic data front, a report released by the Commerce Department showed wholesale inventories in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of February. The Commerce Department said wholesale inventories spiked by 2.5 percent in February after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.2 percent in January. Street had expected wholesale inventories to shoot up by 2.1 percent compared to the 0.8 percent increase originally reported for the previous month. Next week, traders are likely to keep a close eye on reports on consumer and producer price inflation, retail sales and industrial production. The data may impact the outlook for interest rates amid recent indications the Federal Reserve plans to tighten monetary policy more aggressively than previously anticipated.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Friday. Trading during the day remained choppy but dying hour buying due to short covering ahead of the weekend, supported the oil prices. According to a report released by Baker Hughes, the number of oil rigs in the United States went up by thirteen to 546 in the week ending April 8 compared to the previous week. The number of US gas rigs rose by three to 141 in the week, while the total number of rigs in the country reached 689 after a rise of sixteen rigs. The number of oil rigs has gone up by 209 compared to the same period a year earlier. Benchmark crude oil futures for May delivery rose $2.2 or 2.3 percent to settle at $98.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for June delivery surged $2.06 or 2.05 percent to settle at $102.64 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Reversing previous session losses, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Friday amid Reserve Bank of India maintaining status quo on the benchmark lending rate. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das-led Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has decided unanimously to keep the repo rate unchanged at 4%. This is the first monetary policy for FY23. The rate remained unchanged for the eleventh time in a row. The MPC also decided to continue with its accommodative stance of policy. Traders also took support with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' statement that the Indian economy has large forex reserves and that it stands ready and resolute to defend the economy. On the global front, dollar index strengthened to 100 for the first time in nearly two years on Friday, supported by the prospect of a more aggressive pace of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Finally, the rupee ended at 75.93 (Provisional), stronger by 10 paise from its previous close of 76.03 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9541.48 crore against gross selling of Rs 14036.24 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 518.82 crore against gross sales of Rs 749.29 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 2.18 crore against gross selling of Rs 12.64 crore.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday as investors assessed the economic outlook with the Fed moving to fight inflation. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Monday as investors awaited central bank meetings lined up during the course of the week. Indian markets resumed an up move on Friday after three days of losses, as investors cheered the RBI's status quo on key interest rates and policy stance at its first review of FY23 as expected. Today, the markets are likely to start holiday shortened week in red amid weak global cues and the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict. Investors awaited the onset of the corporate earnings season with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) due to report its financial results for the March quarter after market hours today. Traders will be concerned as the Reserve Bank data showed that in the steepest weekly fall ever, India's forex reserves slid by $11.173 billion to $606.475 billion as the currency came under pressure due to geopolitical developments. There will be some cautiousness as Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj warned that FY23 was unlikely to see a rate of growth in tax collections similar to that in FY22. The revenue secretary added that the finance ministry would get a better picture of the situation once the first installment of advance tax collections was received in mid-June. However, some respite may come later in the day as preliminary data of the commerce ministry showed that India's exports grew by 37.57 per cent to $9.32 billion during April 1-7. Imports during the period rose by 8.29 per cent to $10.54 billion. There will be some buzz in auto industry stocks as data compiled by automobile dealers' body FADA showed that electric vehicle retail sales in the country witnessed over three-fold jump last fiscal with two-wheeler offtake leading the segment. Power stocks will be in focus with report that total outstanding dues owed by electricity distribution companies (discoms) to power producers increased by 17.3 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,23,244 crore in April 2022. There will be some reaction in media and entertainment industry stocks as a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) showed that the media and entertainment industry in South India is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent making a post-crisis comeback.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Axis Bank has signed a PGFA with ADB to support supply chain financing for impact sectors, under which ADB will provide guarantees (variable) to the lending done by Axis Bank. 
• HDFC Bank's total advances, including all loans to various customers in retail, corporate, MSME and microfinance sectors, in Assam stood at Rs 7,008 crore as of December 31, 2021. 
• The Kolkata bench of the NCLT has approved the resolution plan submitted by Tata Steel's wholly-owned subsidiary --TSML for the acquisition of debt-laden Rohit Ferro-Tech.
• JSW Steel has posted a combined crude steel production of 5.98 MT for Q4FY22, including the production at jointly controlled entity viz. JSW Ispat Special Products.