Indian equity benchmarks continued bulls run to end at a record close for the third straight session on Wednesday with Sensex ending near 60,750 level which Nifty above 18,150 mark for the first time ever led by buying across the sectors. Falling retail inflation and prospects of better corporate earnings are other key reasons driving markets. After opening in the green, benchmark indices continued to gain momentum, as investors react to positive macroeconomic data. India's consumer price inflation slowed more than expected in September, while industrial production grew in line with expectations in August. The consumer price index rose 4.35 percent year-on-year following a 5.30 percent in August. Street had forecast a 4.50 percent increase. Industrial production rose 11.9 percent year-on-year in August while market participants had forecast 12.0 percent increase. Benchmarks maintained their upward momentum in late afternoon deals, taking support from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India is looking at near close to double-digit growth this year and the country will be one of the fastest-growing economies. The minister also emphasized that she expects the economic growth next year to be in the range of 7.5-8.5 percent, which will be sustained for the next decade. Sentiments also remained up-beat as International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that India's economy, which contracted by 7.3 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, is expected to grow by 9.5 percent in 2021 and 8.5 percent in 2022. It also said India is doing well in terms of vaccinating its own people and this is certainly helpful in its economy. Meanwhile, Union Minister Narayan Rane exhorted MSME Ministry officials to brace up for enhancing the output of micro, small and medium enterprises sector, highlighting its potential to boost India's exports and GDP growth. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 452.74 points or 0.75% to 60,737.05 and the CNX Nifty was up by 169.80 points or 0.94% to 18,161.75.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday as a report from the Labor Department showed consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected in September, but the data was not seen as likely to accelerate the Federal Reserve's tapering plans. The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.4 percent in September after rising by 0.3 percent in August. Street had been expecting another 0.3 percent increase. Excluding higher prices for food and energy, core consumer prices edged up by 0.2 percent in September after inching up by 0.1 percent in August. The uptick in core prices matched street estimates. The report also showed the annual rate of growth in consumer prices accelerated to 5.4 percent in September from 5.3 percent in August, while the annual rate of growth in core prices was unchanged at 4.0 percent. On the earnings front, shares of Delta Air Lines (DAL) moved sharply lower after the airline beat third quarter estimates but warned of a fourth quarter loss due to higher fuel costs. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) also moved to the downside even though the financial giant reported third quarter results that exceeded street estimates on both the top and bottom lines. On the other hand, asset management firm Blackrock (BLK) posted a strong gain after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Wednesday weighed down by concerns the slowdown in global economic growth could weaken the outlook for energy demand. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its 2021 global growth forecast, citing supply chain disruptions amid the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant and cost pressures. Meanwhile, traders awaited weekly oil reports from the American Petroleum Institute (API) and US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Due to Columbus Day holiday on Monday, the reports from API and EIA are delayed by a day. Benchmark Crude oil futures for November delivery dropped $0.20 or about 0.3 percent to settle at $80.44 barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery fell $0.17 or about 0.2 percent to settle at $83.25 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Erasing previous sessions drubbing, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Wednesday due to fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Healthy gains in equity markets also supported rupee. Sentiments were upbeat as India's Industrial production grew 11.9 per cent in August mainly due to a low-base effect. The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) had contracted by 7.1 per cent in August 2020. Also, Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to a five-month low of 4.35 per cent in September from 7.27 per cent in the year-ago period as prices of vegetables and other items declined. The CPI inflation was at 5.3 per cent in August. Meanwhile, IMF has said that India's economy is expected to grow by 9.5 percent in 2021 and 8.5 percent in 2022. On the global front, dollar held near a one-year high versus major peers on Wednesday, amid rising expectations the Federal Reserve will announce a tapering of stimulus next month, potentially following with interest rate hikes by mid-2022. Finally, the rupee ended 75.37, stronger by 15 paise from its previous close of 75.52 on Tuesday.

The FIIs as per Wednesday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 7999.39 crore against gross selling of Rs 7744.56 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs. 211.81 crore with gross sales of Rs 306.49 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 13.80 crore against gross selling of Rs 18.33 crore.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Wednesday led by gains in shares of big growth names like Amazon.com and Microsoft, but JPMorgan shares fell along with other bank shares and weighed on the market. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Thursday tracking gains on Wall Street. Indian markets extended their winning ways into the fifth straight session on Wednesday as encouraging macro-economic data and hopes of strong Q2 earnings bolstered sentiment. Today, markets are likely to continue their previous session's gaining momentum with positive start amid mixed global cues. Markets participants will keenly watch out for WPI Inflation numbers to be out later in the day. Traders may continue to take support with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India will witness close to double-digit economic growth this financial year (FY22), which would be the highest among the major economies of the world. She added the economy is expected to grow at 7.5-8.5 per cent - as projected by rating agencies - in the next financial year, and the growth would sustain at this range for the next decade. Some support will also come as Retailers Association of India (RAI) said retail sales in September this year were at 96 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels of the same month in 2019 as the sector shows signs of recovery. Traders may take note of a private report that India remained at the third position on Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI), which ranks the world's top 40 markets (nations) on the attractiveness of their renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities. Meanwhile, India is unlikely to revise its digital tax regime even after it agreed to overall tax norms along with 135 OECD nations. These countries including India had agreed on the global minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent and doing away with digital taxes. Energy stocks will be in limelight as Domestic rating agency Icra said it expects the availability of coal to power plants to improve gradually during the current month with expected augmentation in both coal production and dispatch levels. There will be some buzz in the fertilizer industry stocks after Rating agency ICRA termed the government's decision to provide a special one-time package for extra subsidy on DAP fertiliser as positive for farmers as well as the industry, and said the availability of key nutrients will improve in the coming months. Cement industry stocks will be in focus as rating agency Icra expects the all-India cement production in FY22 at 332 million tonne, up 12 per cent from last year supported by pent-up demand, rural housing requirement and pickup in infrastructure activity. There will be some important earnings announcements too to keep the markets buzzing.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Tata Motors has entered into binding agreement with TPG Rise Climate under which the latter along with its co-investor ADQ, will invest in a subsidiary of Tata Motors that will be newly incorporated. 
• Power Grid Corporation of India's board has approved an investment of Rs 14.23 crore for setting up of EV charging station in Navi Mumbai under the FAME India Scheme Phase-II.   
• Reliance Industries' wholly owned subsidiary -- RNESL and Denmark-based Stiesdal A/S (Stiesdal) have signed a cooperation agreement for technology development, and manufacturing of Stiesdal's HydroGen Electrolyzers in India. 
• Hero MotoCorp has partnered with Gilera Motors Argentina to reinvigorate and expand its operations in Argentina - one of the key markets in South America.