Registering seventh straight session fall, Indian equity benchmarks witnessed a sharp sell-off and lost nearly 5 percent in Thursday's session, as escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine spooked sentiments. Key indices opened in red and stayed in the negative terrain for whole trading session, as traders remain concerned with India Ratings' report in which it has revised downwards its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for 2021-22 to 8.6 per cent from the consensus 9.2 per cent projected earlier. Traders also took a note of RBI Deputy Governor M D Patra's statement that India's GDP will be just one per cent above the pre-pandemic level even after the estimated 9.2 per cent growth in FY22, and this factor coupled with comfort on inflation make the RBI to continue with the accommodative monetary policy. Making it clear that India's slide on growth began in 2017, much before the pandemic, Patra said the country has lost up to 15 per cent of output forever, which has resulted in the loss of livelihoods as well. Key indices continued their free fall during the final hour of trade, as sentiments remained downbeat with Fitch Ratings' statement that India's economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic but uncertainties remain around its medium-term debt trajectory. It said financial institutions face an uneven recovery due to lingering asset-quality risks and capital limitations. Some pessimism also came as Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) remained net sellers of domestic stocks on Wednesday. FIIs sold Rs 3,417 crore worth equity. Anxiety persisted over the street, even after Moody's Investors Service has raised growth forecast for India to 9.5 per cent for the calendar year 2022 from 7 per cent and maintained its forecast for 5.5 per cent growth in 2023. It added that this translates into 8.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent in fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. Finally, the BSE Sensex declined 2702.15 points or 4.72% to 54,529.91 and the CNX Nifty was down by 815.30 points or 4.78% to 16,247.95.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday, staging a massive comeback from steep declines seen earlier in the day, as investors looked past Russia's attack on Ukraine. Investors bought the dip on some of the biggest tech names during Thursday's volatile session. Amazon, Netflix, Alphabet and Microsoft all closed higher - erasing sharp declines from earlier in the day. Netflix rose 6.1%, and Microsoft added 5.1%. Alphabet and Meta Platforms popped 4% and 4.6%, respectively. President Joe Biden addressed Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, announcing that the US will introduce a new wave of sanctions against Russia in a broad effort to isolate Moscow from the global economy. Biden said the White House has also authorized additional troops to be stationed in Germany as NATO allies look to bolster defenses in Europe. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia remains a part of world economy. We are not going to harm the world economy system we are a part of as long as we are a part of it. Moscow launched the military action in Ukraine overnight Thursday. There were reports of explosions and missile strikes on several key Ukrainian cities including its capital, Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin called the invasion the demilitarization of Ukraine and said Russia's plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. Besides, NATO, the most powerful military alliance in the world, is set to reinforce its presence on its eastern front following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as Russian troops and tanks pushed into Ukraine and airstrikes hit the country in an attack authorized by President Vladimir Putin. The Russian attack on Ukraine is viewed as the largest such military operation in Europe since the Balkan Wars of the 1990s and possibly since World War II and is likely to spark concerns about supply disruptions, during a period of uncertainty in the global economy underpinned by COVID worries and supply-chain bottlenecks. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery surged $0.71 or 0.8 percent to settle at $92.81 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery rose $2.24 or 2.3 percent to settle at $99.08 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee depreciated sharply against the US dollar on Thursday, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices soaring and fanned inflation fears. Traders remain concerned as India Ratings has revised downwards its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast for 2021-22 to 8.6 per cent from the consensus 9.2 per cent projected earlier. Some cautiousness also came with Fitch Ratings' statement that India's economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic but uncertainties remain around its medium-term debt trajectory. It said financial institutions face an uneven recovery due to lingering asset-quality risks and capital limitations. Sustained foreign fund outflows and heavy selling in domestic equities also weighed on investor sentiment. On the global front, the dollar was up on Thursday, with the euro weakening and increased demand for safe-haven currencies as concerns of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine intensify. Finally, the rupee ended at 75.63, weaker by Rs 1.01 from its previous close of 74.62 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net sellers in equity segment and net buyers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4639.03 crore against gross selling of Rs 7477.31 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 426.09 crore with gross sales of Rs 377.04 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 10.02 crore against gross selling of Rs 5.94 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday after President Biden announced new harsh sanctions on Russian banks. Biden added that US partners are also working on global oil reserve release. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday tracking a dramatic overnight recovery on Wall Street. Indian markets plunged more than 4.5 percent on Thursday -- their worst single-day loss since May 2020, as Russia's move to invade Ukraine sent shockwaves across global markets. Today, benchmarks indices are likely to see gap-up opening tracking firm trend in global markets. Some support will come as Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said that the Indian economy is now poised for recovery but high crude oil price is a cause for concern. He said the banking sector in the country is stable, capital is available and credit offtake is poised to take off. Besides, the income tax department said it has issued refunds of close to Rs 1.83 lakh crore to more than 2.07 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. This includes 1.67 crore refunds of the 2020-21 fiscal ended March 31, 2021, amounting to Rs 33,818.97 crore. However, traders may be concerned as government's data showed that India received total foreign direct investment of $60.3 billion during April to December 2021 which is 10.6 per cent lower compared to the $67.5 billion of FDI received in the same period of 2020-21. There may be some cautiousness as Fitch Ratings said India's economy is rapidly recovering from the pandemic but uncertainties remain around its medium-term debt trajectory. In its report What Investors Want to Know: Indian Sovereign and Financial Institutions in 2022, it said financial institutions face an uneven recovery due to lingering asset-quality risks and capital limitations. Banking stocks will be in limelight as RBI data showed bank credit grew by 7.86 per cent to Rs 115.45 lakh crore and deposits rose by 9.11 per cent to Rs 161.28 lakh crore in the fortnight ended February 11. There will be some reaction in two wheeler industry stocks as Crisil Ratings said two-wheeler sales volume is expected to dip by 8-10 per cent this fiscal year due to factors like sluggish rural demand, low festive-season sales, higher prices, and deferred purchases as consumers eye electric vehicles. Pharma stocks will be in focus as the government removed export curbs on Remdesivir injection and its active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) amid declining COVID-19 cases in the country. There will be some buzz in the edible oil industry stocks as Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal said nearly 4 lakh hectare area of rice fallow will be used for oilseeds cultivation in 100 districts of 10 states as part of the government's efforts to boost domestic output and reduce imports of edible oils.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Power Grid Corporation of India has received approval from board of directors to transfer 26% residual equity in Powergrid Vizag Transmission to PGInvIT. 
• IOC has entered into partnership with Dabur India, as part of which the state-owned refiner's LPG distributors will become retail business partners for the homegrown FMCG major. 
• Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Jio has launched two new prepaid plans for its users priced at Rs 1,499 and Rs 4,199, which come with a Disney+ Hotstar Premium subscription. 
• TCS has launched its Cyber Defense Suite to give leaders confidence and agility to grow their digital enterprises.