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Indian equity benchmarks continued upward momentum for the second consecutive day on Thursday with Sensex ending 1,000 points up and Nifty ending above 16,900 mark on back of positive cues from global market. Key gauges made a gap up opening and traded jubilantly throughout the day, as traders took encouragement with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report showed that digital payments across the country registered a growth of nearly 29 per cent in a year through March 2022. The RBI's digital payment index (RBI-DPI) stood at 349.3 in March 2022 against 270.59 in March 2021. Traders also took a note of Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal’s statement that India has not imposed any country-specific ban on imports. He said India and China, are both members of the WTO, and any trade restriction imposed must be WTO compliant. He said the government has from time to time reviewed and taken WTO compliant measures to address the concerns raised by various stakeholders to have a holistic global trade strategy.

Key indices extended gains in second half of trading session, after the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in its latest report showed that Singapore (27.01%) and USA (17.94%) have emerged as top 2 sourcing nations in FDI equity flows into India in FY2021-22 followed by Mauritius (15.98%), Netherland (7.86%) and Switzerland (7.31%). Some optimism also came from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry stated that the overall (merchandise plus services) exports increased from $52.8 billion in June 2021 to $64.9 billion in June 2022.  The overall (merchandise plus services) imports increased from $52.9 billion in June 2021 to $82.4 billion in June 2022. Meanwhile, SEBI has extended the deadline by three months to November 1, for commencing the validation of all KYC records by KYC Registration Agencies (KRAs).

On the global front, Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a 75-bps rate hike, as widely expected, and indicated that it may be appropriate to slow the pace of increases going forward and policy will be set meeting-by-meeting amid signs of an economic slowdown. European markets were trading lower even as a slew of downbeat earnings including from Santander took the shine off a global rally driven by easing worries about the future pace of U.S. interest rate hikes.

Back home, telecom industry stocks were in action as India's first 5G auction received bids worth Rs 1.49 trillion on day two, as aggressive bidding across bands by players like Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel pushed the sale over to the third day. Stocks related to gems and jewellery industry sector were in watch as a World Gold Council (WGC) report stated that India's gold demand went up by 43 percent during the April-June quarter, but going ahead factors like inflation, Rupee-USD rates, and policy measures among others are likely to influence consumer sentiments.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1041.47 points or 1.87% to 56,857.79 and the CNX Nifty was up by 287.80 points or 1.73% to 16,929.60. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 56,914.22 and 56,236.45, respectively. There were 25 stocks advancing against 5 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.94%, while Small cap index was up by 0.65%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.51%, Finance up by 2.21%, TECK up by 2.19%, Realty up by 2.03%, Metal up by 1.86% and Bankex up by 1.72%, while Telecom down by 0.37% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance up by 10.68%, Bajaj Finserv up by 10.14%, Tata Steel up by 4.59%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.25% and Indusind Bank up by 3.90%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 1.19%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.96%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.73%, ITC down by 0.16% and sun pharma down by 0.12% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan has said that telecom service providers May launch 5G mobile service in the current financial year (FY23). He stated ‘The Department of Telecommunication vide notification dated June 15, 2022 has already initiated the process of Auction of Spectrum in 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz Bands which includes the Spectrum required for launch of 5G Services.’

On the first day of the auction on Tuesday (July 26), the Department received total bids worth Rs 1.45 lakh crore. He asserted the Department of Telecommunications has amended the guidelines for Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for manufacturing of telecom and networking products to facilitate design-led manufacturing of 5G products in the country.

Moreover, he mentioned one of the amendments is related to providing 1 per cent higher incentive for products qualifying the design-led criteria. The application window has been opened from June 21, 2022 till August 5, 2022. In addition to existing PLI beneficiaries, total 26 National/ Multinational companies have shown their interest as on July 21, 2022.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 16,947.65 and 16,746.25. There were 40 stocks advancing against 10 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Bajaj Finance up by 10.46%, Bajaj Finserv up by 10.09%, Tata Steel up by 4.43%, Kotak Mahindra Bank up by 4.18% and SBI Life Insurance up by 3.78%. On the flip side, Shree Cement down by 3.06%, Bharti Airtel down by 1.17%, Ultratech Cement down by 0.92%, Dr. Reddy's Lab down by 0.70% and Cipla down by 0.62% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower;  UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 6.25 points or 0.09% to 7,341.98, France’s CAC decreased 1.56 points or 0.02% to 6,256.38 and Germany’s DAX decreased 19.17 points or 0.15% to 13,147.21.

Asian markets settled mostly higher on Thursday tracking Wall Street gains overnight after the US Federal Reserve announced a 75-bps interest rate hike, as widely expected, and US Fed Chair Jerome Powell commented he doesn't believe the United States is in a recession, boosted hopes of a slowdown in the pace of interest rate hikes at future meetings. Japanese shares rose despite strengthening of Japanese yen against the US dollar. Moreover, Chinese shares gained ahead of US President Joe Biden's upcoming call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Although, Hong Kong shares dropped after the city's central bank raised its base rate by 75 basis points.

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