Indian equity benchmarks rebounded sharply on Thursday after the steep sell-off in the previous trading session, led by gains in index heavyweights HCL Technologies, Wipro and Infosys. Markets made a negative start amid weekly expiry of the F&O contracts. Some concern also came with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,595.06 crore on March 13, 2024. However, key indices soon wiped off early losses and inched gradually higher as traders took some support with report that NITI Aayog has proposed a series of measures to boost exports from micro, small and medium enterprises, including boosting e-commerce exports, creating a comprehensive trade portal, promoting ease of merchandise exports, improving access to export finance and creation of one stop information channel for exporters. Markets extended gains in afternoon deals, as sentiments got boost after global ratings agency Fitch Ratings raised India's FY25 GDP growth forecast to 7 percent from 6.5 percent earlier as it expects the economy to continue its strong expansion. Fitch expects 50 bps rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India from July to December and foresees India's CPI inflation gradually declining to 4 percent by the end of 2024. Some support also came as inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased in the month of February 2024 to 0.20% from 0.27% in January, aided by decline in prices of non-food articles, coal, basic metals, other non-metallic mineral products, fabricated metal products (except machinery & equipment), rubber & plastic products and printing & reproduction of recorded media etc. But, markets trimmed some gains in late afternoon deals as some pessimism remained among traders with Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran's statement that he is worried over retail investors' play in risky Futures and Options (F&O) segment in search of instant profits. He said the biggest threat to sustainable capital formation and also sustainable economic growth is the short-termism in attitudes that the country is afflicted with. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 335.39 points or 0.46% to 73,097.28 and the CNX Nifty was up by 148.95 points or 0.68% to 22,146.65.

The U.S. markets ended lower on Thursday amid renewed concerns about the Federal Reserve further postponing its first interest rate cut following the release of hotter-than-expected inflation data. The Labor Department released a report showing producer prices increased by much more than expected in the month of February. The Labor Department said its producer price index for final demand climbed by 0.6 percent in February after rising by 0.3 percent in January. Street had expected producer prices to rise by another 0.3 percent. The report also said the annual rate of producer price growth accelerated to 1.6 percent in February from a revised 1.0 percent in January. Street had expected the year-over-year price growth to rise to 1.1 percent from the 0.9 percent originally reported for the previous month. On the sectoral front, housing stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 3.0 percent nosedive by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Interest rate-sensitive telecom stocks also saw considerable weakness, dragging the NYSE Arca North American Telecom Index down by 2.3 percent. Significant weakness was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.0 percent slump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Steel, banking and semiconductor stocks also saw notable weakness, while software and oil service stocks bucked the downtrend.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised upward its global demand growth forecast, and attack on Russian oil refineries raised supply concerns. The IEA revised global demand growth upward by 110,000 barrels per day to 1.3 million barrels per day total. The IEA said in its report that oil demand this year will likely rise by 1.3 million barrels above 2023 levels. Besides, it is estimated that the Ukrainian attacks deep inside Russia have damaged around 12% of Russia's total oil-processing capacity. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery rose $1.54 or about 1.9% to settle at $81.26 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for May delivery surged by $1.39 or about 1.65% to $85.42 per barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended marginally lower against the dollar on Thursday amid a strong greenback against major rivals overseas and rising crude oil prices. Traders remained cautious with provisional data from the NSE showing that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 4,595.06 crore on March 13, 2024. However, a firm trend in domestic equity markets supported the local currency and restricted the fall. Some support also came as global ratings agency Fitch Ratings raised India's FY25 GDP growth forecast to 7 percent from 6.5 percent earlier as it expects the economy to continue its strong expansion. Fitch expects 50 bps rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India from July to December and foresees India's CPI inflation gradually declining to 4 percent by the end of 2024. On the global front, the dollar inched higher on Thursday as investors waited for U.S. economic data later in the day, that could shed light on when the Federal Reserve might start cutting interest rates this year. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.84 (Provisional), weaker by 3 paise from its previous close of 82.81 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 34926.57 crore against gross selling of Rs 20344.22 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 2403.84 crore with gross sales of Rs 1594.19 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 51.69 crore against gross selling of Rs 53.68 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday with chipmaker stocks extending losses for a second day, and as a jump in producer prices left investors wondering if the Federal Reserve might wait longer than expected to cut interest rates. Asian markets are trading in red on Friday as investors in Asia will be watching out for any news from Japan's spring wage negotiations, with first estimates expected to come out later in the day. Indian markets ended higher with notable gains on Thursday led by gains in index heavyweights Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and IT shares. Today, markets are likely to get gap-down opening on weak global cues due to a more-than-expected increase in US wholesale inflation. The US producer price index rose 0.6 per cent against expectations of a 0.3 per cent rise, sending the US-10-year treasury yield higher by 10 bps to 4.29 per cent. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,356.29 crore on March 14, provisional data from the NSE showed. However, some support may come later in the day as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said in a report Indian startups are likely to create 50 million new jobs and add $1 trillion to the economy by 2029-30 (FY30). The report, titled Unicorn 2.0: Adding the Next Trillion, also said that the size of the Indian economy was likely to be $7 trillion by 2030. Traders may take note of a private report that investments in India are set to grow faster than consumption for the next few years, and it see Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) rising to 36 percent of GDP in 2026-27. Meanwhile, the commerce ministry is in discussions with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to facilitate e-commerce exports by liberalising the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) guidelines. Oil marketing companies like BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil will be in focus the Centre has reduced prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 2 per litre, effective from March 15. The move comes at a time when Brent crude oil is hovering above $85 per barrel. There will be some reaction in infrastructure stocks as data by the ministry of road transport and highways shows that with a month from the close of the financial year, construction of national highways (NH) in the country in FY24 has been nearly 13 per cent higher than the last financial year at 9,088 kilometres (km). Insurance industry stocks will be in limelight with report that the non-life insurance industry, including general, standalone health and specialised PSU insurance companies, have witnessed a 13.1 per cent growth in premiums to Rs 2.63 trillion in the first 11 months of FY24, up from Rs 2.32 trillion in the year-ago period. The growth was backed by the rise in health and motor insurance premiums.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Larsen & Toubro's Hydrocarbon Business -- L&T Energy Hydrocarbon has secured a major onshore gas pipeline project from a prestigious client in the Middle East.
• TCS has signed an agreement with Nuuday, Denmark's leading digital connectivity and communications provider, to implement a complex cloud transformation.
• NTPC Group has crossed the mark of 400 Billion Units of total electricity generation in the current financial year, on March 13, 2024.
• Wipro has been selected by Desjardins to transform their credit solutions for members and clients.