Extending their winning streak for third straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Thursday's trade at their record closing high levels with frontline gauges settling above their crucial 53,100 (Sensex) and 15,900 (Nifty) levels for the first time led by buying in realty and IT stocks. Sentiments remained upbeat throughout the day with key gauges making a positive start after Crisil's latest report stating that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) insistence on companies opening current accounts with banks is among the factors that has helped large lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI raise their shares of the competitive corporate banking market in 2020. It stated apart from the RBI rules, the government's mega merger to reduce the number of state-owned banks has also helped in the trend. Market participants also remained optimistic on report that India's new Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has started dialling oil-producing nations to impress upon them for a need to make prices affordable for consumers. Puri, who last week called Energy Minister of Qatar, dialled his counterpart in the UAE, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. Markets extended gains in second half of the trade as traders continued to remain upbeat with private report stating IT spending in the country is expected to grow at 8 per cent to $92.7 billion in 2021. The growth at 8 percent is a shade less than the world average of 8.6 per cent and global spends on information technology are estimated to come at $4.2 trillion. Some support also came with ICRA Ratings' survey stating that around 42 percent of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) expect a growth of more than 15 per cent in their asset under management (AUM) in fiscal 2021-22. It said NBFCs growth expectations have moderated vis-a-vis the expectations six months earlier. Traders shrugged off private report that even though the second wave has ebbed, the increased presence of the Delta variant and the subsequent mutations of the coronavirus makes the third wave a real risk for the country. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 254.80 points or 0.48% to 53,158.85, while the CNX Nifty was up by 70.25 points or 0.44% to 15,924.20.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday on renewed concerns about the global economic outlook after a report from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed Chinese GDP growth slowed by more than expected in the second quarter. The report showed Chinese GDP grew 7.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, shy of expectations for a gain of 8.1 percent and down sharply from 18.3 percent in the three months prior. Indications some central banks around the world are considering tightening monetary policy much sooner than the Federal Reserve may have added to worries about the global economy. Traders were also digesting a slew of US economic data, including a report from the Federal Reserve showing industrial production increased by less than expected in the month of June. The Fed said industrial production rose by 0.4 percent in June after climbing by a downwardly revised 0.7 percent in May. Street had expected industrial production to increase by 0.7 percent. The weaker than expected growth was partly due to a 0.1 percent dip in manufacturing output, which came as an ongoing shortage of semiconductors contributed to a 6.6 percent nosedive in the production of motor vehicles and parts. The Labor Department also released a report showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits decreased in line with street estimates in the week ended July 10th. The report said initial jobless claims fell to 360,000, a decrease of 26,000 from the previous week's revised level of 386,000. Street had expected jobless claims to dip to 360,000 from the 373,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Thursday, extending their previous session losses, amid rising concerns about outlook for energy demand and likely excess supply in the market. There are concerns that a compromise deal between leading OPEC producers could result in a sharp increase in oil supply into an extremely tight market. Worries about demand have resurfaced due to the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus and possibility of fresh economic restrictions in several places across the world. Crude oil futures for August fell $1.48 or 2 percent to settle at $71.65 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude dropped $1.45 or 2 percent to settle at $73.31 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Thursday as banks and exporters continued to sell the US currency amid persistent capital inflows. Besides, healthy gains in domestic equity markets also supported the rupee. Sentiments remained positive with private report stated that IT spending in the country is expected to grow at 8 per cent to $92.7 billion in 2021. The growth at 8 percent is a shade less than the world average of 8.6 per cent and global spends on information technology are estimated to come at $4.2 trillion. Traders took note of report that garment exporters will continue to get a rebate on central and state taxes on their outward shipments as the government approved extension of RoSCTL scheme till March 2024. On the global front, sterling retreated further against the dollar and euro on Thursday, shrugging off another set of stronger economic data and focusing on the impending end of activity curbs even as COVID-19 infection rates climbed. Finally, the rupee ended 74.54, stronger by 5 paise from its previous close of 74.59 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net seller in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5248.12 crore against gross selling of Rs 6472.65 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 99.47 crore with gross sales of Rs 184.22 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11.01 crore against gross selling of Rs 17.13 crore.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's persistent dovishness raises concern about the sustainability of the economic recovery. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Friday as investors await the Bank of Japan's monetary policy statement. Indian markets ended at record closing highs Thursday after boosted by strong gains in IT and realty stocks. Today, the markets are likely to make cautious start amid weakness in global peers. Rise in coronavirus cases likely to dampen sentiments in the markets. India has recorded a spike of 39,072 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total caseload to 31,025,875, according to Worldometer. The death count increased to 412,563 with 544 new fatalities, the data showed. There will be some cautiousness with a private survey showing that the second Covid wave, along with overall economic downturn brought about by the pandemic, seems to have hit the consumers and general public hard with as many as 79 per cent of them believing their household earnings will decline in the current financial year (FY22). However, some respite may come later in the day with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) report that the tapering of the second wave, coupled with an aggressive vaccination push, has brightened near-term prospects for the Indian economy, and the Indian economy may have grown 22.1 per cent in the April-June quarter. Some support may come as the data released by the Commerce Ministry showed that the country's exports rose by 48.34 per cent to $32.5 billion on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products, gems and jewellery, and chemicals, leather and marine goods. Traders may take note of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' statement that financial inclusion will continue to be a policy priority for the central to make the post-pandemic recovery more equitable and sustainable. Das said the Reserve Bank of India will very soon be coming out with the first financial inclusion index, which will assess progress in terms of access, usage and quality. Banking stocks will be in focus as RBI data showed that bank credit grew by 6 per cent to Rs 109.31 lakh crore and deposits increased by 9.76 per cent to Rs 154.51 lakh crore in the fortnight ended July 2. IT stocks will be in limelight as markets would react to results by Wipro, Cyient, Tata Elxsi and L&T Infotech in early trade. Meanwhile, Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem will launch its Rs 500-crore IPO at a price band of Rs 1073-1083 per share. The issue will open on July 16 and close on July 20, 2021. There will be lots of earnings announcements too, to keep the markets in action.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• TCS is planning to expand its operations in Arizona, investing more than $300 million by 2026 and hiring more than 220 employees by 2023. 
• Tata Motors has launched a new brand XPRES exclusively for the fleet customers.  
• Wipro has reported 35.65% rise in its consolidated net profit attributable to equity holders of Rs 3242.60 crore for Q1FY22 as against net profit of Rs 2390.40 crore for Q1FY21. 
• Power Grid Corporation has received approval from CERC for incorporation of a wholly owned subsidiary to undertake telecommunications and digital technology businesses.