Extending gains for second day, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher by nearly a percent on Friday, on the back of buying in telecom, auto, utilities and power stocks amid firm trend in the global market. Key indices made positive start and stayed in green for whole day, as sentiments got a boost with a private report stating that the Indian economy can grow by 7-7.8 per cent this fiscal on the back of better agriculture production and a revitalised rural economy amid global headwinds mainly due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Traders took some support with another report stated that India's engineering exports stood at $9.79 billion in May 2022, recording a growth of 13.5 percent over the $8.62 billion reported in the same month a year ago, while the country saw its cumulative engineering exports growing by 16.84 percent at $19.39billion ($16.6 billion) during April-May 2022 period. However, markets trimmed some gains in afternoon deals, as some concern came with private report stated that India's current account deficit (CAD) is expected to widen and be in the range of 2.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year FY23. The high merchandise trade deficit coupled with the fund outflow from financial markets has weakened India's external account or balance of payment position. But, markets soon gained traction to end higher, taking support from a new Nasscom report showing that the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and data utilisation strategy can add $500 billion to India's GDP by 2025. Additional support also came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Mutual cooperation between the BRICS nations could help in global recovery after the coronavirus pandemic. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 462.26 points or 0.88% to 52,727.98 and the CNX Nifty was up by 142.60 points or 0.92% to 15,699.25.

Extending their previous session's gains, the US markets closed significantly higher on Friday as traders continued to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following recent weakness. Traders continue to express concerns about inflation, interest rates and a potential recession but may feel to sell-off earlier this month was overdone. Adding to more optimism on the street, shares of FedEx (FDX) soared after the delivery giant narrowly missed fiscal fourth quarter earnings estimates but provided upbeat guidance for the current year. FedEx has helped to lead a rally by transportation stocks, resulting in a 4 percent spike by the Dow Jones Transportation Average. Oil service stocks also showed a substantial move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surging 4.6 percent. Considerable strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 4.5 percent jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. On the economic data front, the Commerce Department released a report unexpectedly showing a significant rebound in new home sales in the month of May. The report showed new home sales surged 10.7 percent to an annual rate of 696,000 in May after plunging 12.0 percent to an upwardly revised rate of 629,000 in April. The spike surprised market participants, who had expected new home sales to dip 0.5 percent to an annual rate of 588,000 from the 591,000 originally reported for the previous month. Meanwhile, a separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. tumbled by slightly more than initially estimated in the month of June. The report showed the consumer sentiment index for June was downwardly revised to 50.0 from the preliminary reading of 50.2. The consumer sentiment index is down sharply from the final May reading of 58.4, plunging to its lowest level on record.

Rebounding from recent losses, crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Friday. Traders anticipate high demand for energy and tight supply to persist over the summer months, despite rising concerns over recession. Market participants are eyeing the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, due to take place next week. At the OPEC+ meeting, major producers, including Russia, are likely to stick to a plan to increase output by 648,000 barrels a day in August. Meanwhile, a report from Baker Hughes said the oil and gas rig count in the U.S. rose 13 to 753 in the week to June 24, its highest since March 2020. The report said total rig count was up 283, or 60%, over this time last year. Benchmark crude oil futures for August delivery rose $3.35 or about 3.2 percent to settle at $107.62 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery was up by $2.89 or 2.63 percent to settle at $112.94 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended marginally weaker against dollar on Friday, on emergence of demand for the greenback from importers. Traders were worried as India's current account deficit (CAD) is expected to widen and be in the range of 2.6 per cent to 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the current financial year FY23. The high merchandise trade deficit coupled with the fund outflow from financial markets has weakened India's external account or balance of payment position. However, downfall remain capped as India's engineering exports stood at $9.79 billion in May 2022, recording a growth of 13.5 percent over the $8.62 billion reported in the same month a year ago, while the country saw its cumulative engineering exports growing by 16.84 percent at $19.39billion ($16.6 billion) during April-May 2022 period. On the global front, Sterling edged up against the dollar on Friday and was set for its first weekly rise in four weeks, as a weaker greenback and better-than-expected retail data allowed investors to look past mounting pressure on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Finally, the rupee ended at 78.33 (provisional), weaker by 1 paise from its previous close of 78.32 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 4638.44 crore against gross selling of Rs 6648.83 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 154.57 crore against gross selling of Rs 335.40 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 16.16 crore against gross selling of Rs 26.10 crore.

The US markets ended higher on Friday as oil prices eased, tempering fears of prolonged inflation and the accompanying aggressive Federal Reserve tightening. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as investors assess recession fears. Indian markets extended their gains for a second straight day on Friday on the back of buying in auto, banking, and energy stocks in line with firm global trends. Today, markets are likely to get gap-up opening tracking firm global cues. Traders will be getting encouragement as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and it is expected to reach $30 trillion in the coming 30 years. He said if India grows at 8 per cent every year on a compounded annual growth basis, the economy will double in about nine years. Some support will come with a private report that India is rapidly emerging as a preferred country for foreign investments as the steps taken by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last eight years have borne fruit as is evident from the ever-increasing volumes of FDI inflow setting new records. However, there may be some cautiousness as latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed India's foreign exchange reserves declined $5.9 billion to $590.59 billion for the week ended June 17. Traders may take note of Governor Shaktikanta Das' statement that India's central bank is on course to bring down prices but the retail inflation rate is likely to remain above the top end of its mandated target band until December. Meanwhile, the government has extended the time for levy of GST compensation cess by nearly 4 years till March 31, 2026. Besides, Capital markets regulator Sebi came out with new guidelines for Large Value Fund for accredited investors, pertaining to filing of such schemes and extension of their tenures beyond two years. Power stocks will be in focus as Power Minister RK Singh has said the government will invite bids from states to sell electricity generated from 8,000 megawatt (MW) thermal capacities without PPAs. There will be some reaction in infrastructure industry stocks as Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation said as many as 423 infrastructure projects, each entailing an investment of Rs 150 crore or more, have been hit by cost overruns of more than Rs 4.95 lakh crore.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• ONGC's wholly owned subsidiary and overseas arm -- ONGC Videsh has made an oil discovery in the recently drilled well, Urraca-IX, in CPO-5 block, Llanos Basin, Colombia. 
• NTPC has started Commercial Operation of last part capacity of 35 MW out of 92 MW Kayamkulam Floating Solar PV Project at Kayamkulam, Kerala with effect from June 24, 2022. 
• HCL Technologies has opened its new delivery center in Vancouver, Canada.
• ITC has witnessed a threefold rise in sales through the e-commerce channel in the last financial year over FY 2019-20 levels, taking the channel salience to 7%.