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Indian equity benchmarks ended at record closing highs on Wednesday as India’s exports rose by 45.76 per cent to USD 33.28 billion in August, as against USD 22.83 billion in the same month last year.  Today, the markets are likely to make positive start amid firm global cues.  Trades may get support on report that the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has pegged India's economic growth rate to hit a four-year high of 7.2 per cent for 2021 against a contraction of 7 per cent in 2020. At this rate, India would be the fastest growing economy after China, which is projected to grow by 8.3 per cent. Calculations are based on GDP at constant dollars in 2015.  Further, some support will also come in as defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the trust between the government and the industry has gone up following the scrapping of the retrospective taxation regime and the Centre is open to new ideas to further boost the country’s economic growth. Meanwhile, helped by festive demand, retail sales improved in August and reached 88 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, as per the retail business survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI). In July, retail sales stood at 72 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels of July 2019. It said retail businesses in the North and the South of India have indicated sales nearing recovery in August 2021 with sales at 98 per cent and 97 per cent respectively, of the pre-pandemic levels (August 2019), as against 78 per cent (North India) and 82 per cent (South India) sales in July 2021. Telecom sector’s stocks will be in action as the Union Cabinet approved a relief package for the telecom sector that includes a four-year moratorium on payment of statutory dues by telecom companies as well as allowing 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route.  There will some buzz in automobile stocks as the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 26,058 crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme for auto, auto-components and drone industries to enhance India's manufacturing capabilities. The PLI scheme will incentivize the emergence of advanced automotive technologies' global supply chain in India. There will also be some buzz in banking stocks as rating agency Fitch said the regulatory forbearance has reduced the Indian banking sector’s need for fresh core capital to meet minimum regulatory capital requirements. Under the base case, the sector will not need fresh equity capital to meet the minimum common equity Tier 1 (CET1) requirement of eight per cent until the financial year ending March 2025 (FY25).

The US markets ended higher on Wednesday as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher. Asian markets are steady early deals on Thursday amid a climb in energy shares and as some of the anxiety about the recovery from the pandemic eased.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks surged to record closing highs on Wednesday, led by gains in NTPC, Bharti Airtel and HCL Technologies. Key indices made positive start and stayed in green for whole day, as India’s merchandise exports rose by 45.76% in August 2021 as compared to same period of last year on account of healthy growth in segments like engineering, petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals. Some support also came in with report that the Finance Ministry has permitted 11 states to borrow an additional amount of Rs 15,721 crore after these states achieved the capital expenditure target set for the June quarter. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Sentiments remained up-beat with Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways’ statement that the bilateral trade between India and the US has grown from $16 billion to $149 billion in the last two decades. He said, the trade is projected to reach $500 billion by 2025. Markets extended gains in late afternoon session to end near intraday highs, taking support from private report stating that India remains an attractive destination for foreign direct investments (FDI) on account of healthy prospects of economic growth and its skilled workforce. Additional support also came after Textiles Ministry Additional Secretary Vijoy Kumar Singh has said that the idea of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme, announced for textiles by the government, was to create huge employment opportunities and extend support to companies that were interested in scaling up business in the sector. He said the advantage of PLI Scheme is to invest in those projects, which are covered under the scheme for the products, and create huge employment and achieve production turnover for companies. Meanwhile, the GST Council might on Friday consider taxing petrol, diesel, and other petroleum products under the single national GST regime, a move that may require huge compromises by both central and state governments on the revenues they collect from taxing these products. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 476.11 points or 0.82% to 58,723.20 and the CNX Nifty was up by 139.45 points or 0.80% to 17,519.45.    

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