Indian equity benchmarks resumed their upward move after a day's hiatus and finally ended the session with a gains of over half a percent on Thursday, led by gains in Auto, IT and Capital Goods stocks.  After the flat start, markets drifted lower during the first half of the trading session as traders got anxious with a research report by CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics showing that financial conditions have tightened the economy with liquidity going into a deeper deficit putting upward pressure on short-term rates. The report released during the month also said that foreign portfolio investors turned net sellers further aggravating the tight liquidity conditions. Some concern also came as minutes from the Federal Reserve's January 30-31 meeting revealed most officials remain wary of cutting interest rates too quickly, fearing progress on inflation could stall out. However, strong recovery during the second half helped the markets to close higher. Traders took encouragement with a private survey showing that Indian business activity expanded at its fastest pace in seven months in February as demand remained strong for both manufacturing and services. HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 61.5 this month from January's final reading of 61.2, staying above the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction for a 31st straight month. Sentiments got a boost as the country's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant stated that India will be the third largest economy by 2027 and it needs to grow at rapid rates to become a $35 trillion economy by 2047. Adding to the optimism, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expressed confidence that India will continue to demonstrate a 6-8 per cent consistent growth rate over the next 10 years as he invited global players to the country to tap domestic and global markets. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 535.15 points or 0.74% to 73,158.24 and the CNX Nifty was up by 162.40 points or 0.74% to 22,217.45.

The US markets ended sharply higher on Thursday with Nasdaq settling around three percent higher. The rally on markets largely reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), with the chipmaker spiking by 16.4 percent to a record closing high. Nvidia soared after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results amid strong demand for its chips to power artificial intelligence. The company also provided upbeat revenue guidance. Shares of Nvidia have skyrocketed this year amid optimism about demand for its AI chips, and traders had been questioning whether its results would support further upside. On the sectoral front, semiconductor stocks skyrocketed on the heels of the upbeat Nvidia earnings, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index soaring by 5.0 percent to a record closing high. Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.8 percent spike by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Software and networking stocks also saw considerable strength, contributing to the surge by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. On the economic data front, a report released by the Labor Department showed an unexpected dip in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended February 17th. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell to 201,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level of 213,000. Street had expected jobless claims to rise to 218,000 from the 213,000 originally reported for the previous week.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as rising tensions in the Middle East raised the possibility of a near-term supply disruption. Oil prices rose despite data from Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. rose by 3.5 million barrels in the week ended February 16th, compared with forecasts for a rise of 3.9 million barrels. Meanwhile, gasoline stockpiles were down by 294,000 barrels last week, substantially down from an expected drop of 2.1 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles declined 4 million barrels in the week, more than twice the expected drop of 1.7 million barrels. Benchmark crude oil futures for April delivery rose $0.70 or 0.9% to settle at $78.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for April delivery surged $0.64 or 0.77% to $83.67 per barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee appreciated against the US dollar on Thursday tracking the weakness of the American currency in the overseas market and positive domestic equities. Traders took encouragement with a private survey showing that Indian business activity expanded at its fastest pace in seven months in February as demand remained strong for both manufacturing and services. HSBC's flash India Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by S&P Global, rose to 61.5 this month from January's final reading of 61.2, staying above the 50-mark that separates expansion from contraction for a 31st straight month. On the global front, dollar edged broadly lower on Thursday as traders awaited a slew of business activity surveys to gauge the health of major economies and what that may mean for the global interest rate outlook. Finally, the rupee ended at 82.85 (Provisional), stronger by 11 paise from its previous close of 82.96 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while they were net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 17007.34 crore against gross selling of Rs 16613.63 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 1110.84 crore with gross sales of Rs 1607.61 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 22.39 crore against gross selling of Rs 17.66 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 hitting a record high after chip giant Nvidia posted quarterly results that far exceed estimates, boosting the tech sector. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday amid declines in China's commercial housing sales prices narrowed on a month-on-month basis. Indian markets recovered from steep losses intraday and ended notably higher on Thursday as the weekly F&O expiry triggered a fag-end recovery on the bourses. Today, markets are likely to extend previous session's gains with positive start on the back of upbeat cues from the US market. Sentiments will get a boost as World Economic Forum President Borge Brende said that India is on track to become a $10 trillion economy in coming years and grab the third-largest slot soon. He described the country as a place with optimism not seen elsewhere in a very fragmented and polarised world. Traders will be taking encouragement as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said robust tax collections had given the Centre confidence to go ahead with increased capital expenditure and continue investment in infrastructure projects. Some support will come with a private report that strong reform measures initiated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government in the last ten years have laid the foundation of a solid economic growth in coming decades. Traders may take note of report that minutes of the latest RBI monetary policy committee meeting showed that officials decided not to drop their guard against inflation, basing themselves on the thinking that the last mile to achieve the target of 4 per cent rate could be the most challenging. However, Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,410.05 crore on February 22, provisional data from the NSE showed. There may be some cautiousness as India Ratings and Research said India's GDP is expected to grow by 6.5 percent in 2024-25. While this would represent a decline from the statistics ministry's first advance estimate of 7.3 percent for the current financial year, the prospect of the private investment cycle bodes well for the economy. Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings said private corporate sector investment has been down and out for nearly a decade. Sugar industry stocks will be in focus as food secretary Sanjeev Chopra said the government will consider the demand for higher minimum sale prices (MSP) of sugar from mills in sync with the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane paid to farmers.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• UPL has incorporated new step-down subsidiary viz. Advanta Seeds Hungary Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag.
• HCL Technologies has expanded its longstanding collaboration with Intel Foundry to co-develop customized silicon solutions for semiconductor manufacturers, system OEMs and cloud services providers to enhance foundry services.
• Bajaj Finserv's subsidiary -- Bajaj Markets has partnered with Propelld, a prominent financial institution that offers domestic education loans.
• Larsen & Toubro's construction arm -- L&T construction has secured an order for its Buildings & Factories Business from a reputed real-estate developer to construct Multi storeyed residential towers at Thane in the Mumbai, metropolitan Region.