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Indian equity benchmarks ended Friday’s trading session with gains, led by gains in ICICI Bank, ITC, SBI and HCL Technologies. Benchmarks made positive start, as traders took some support with the Ministry of External Affairs stating that India has been in touch with the various countries regarding the possibility of import of vaccines to supplement domestic production. Traders also took a note of Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar’s statement that the RBI is working on phased introduction of its own digital currency and is mulling pilot projects in wholesale and retail segments in the near future. However, key indices gave up opening gains and turned volatile, as traders got anxious with Former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu stating that India's wholesale price-based inflation is at a 30-year high, leading to a very alarming situation for the country. He, however, doesn't see any risk of hyperinflation, but cautioned that if retail inflation follows wholesale prices, it might lead to ‘inflationary crisis’.

Benchmarks bounced back from day's low and were trading firmly in green in afternoon deals, as India has significantly improved its ranking in terms of trade facilitation due to various reforms undertaken by various departments especially customs under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC). India has scored 90.32 per cent in United Nation's Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific's (UNESCAP) latest Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation. Traders found support with private report that employees in India will see bigger pay rises next fiscal year as firms expect to emerge from lockdowns and the supply of applicants lags demand. Meanwhile, Minister for Road Transport & Highway -- Nitin Gadkari said the Road Transport and Highways ministry has constructed 13,327 km of National Highways in 2020-21 (FY21), which works out to about 37 km per day. Gadkari said to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic effect, his ministry took initiatives under Atmanirbhar Bharat and provided several COVID-19 relief measures to contractors, concessionaires and consultants, including extension of time for 3-9 months.

On the global front, Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday as lingering worries over rising spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus in several parts across the world rendered the mood cautious. The markets are supported mainly by crude oil prices as they continue to recover from the recent selling-off. European markets were trading higher with a slew of upbeat earnings updates and dovish comments from the European Central bank helping underpin sentiment. Back home, steel industry’s stocks were buzzing as the government given green signal a Rs 6,322-crore production linked incentive (PLI) scheme. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said that incentives worth Rs 6,322 crore will be provided over five years and it would create over 5.25 lakh jobs.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 138.59 points or 0.26% to 52,975.80, while the CNX Nifty was up by 32.00 points or 0.20% to 15,856.05. 

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 53,114.70 and 52,653.77, respectively and there were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were ended mixed; the BSE Mid cap index fell 0.07%, while Small cap index was up by 0.11%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.46%, Bankex up by 1.20%, FMCG up by 0.64%, IT up by 0.31%, Metal up by 0.29% while, Capital Goods down by 0.85%, Industrials down by 0.74%, Telecom down by 0.72%, Consumer Durables down by 0.50%, Energy down by 0.50% were the losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ICICI Bank up by 3.18%, ITC up by 2.56%, SBI up by 1.69%, HCL Technologies up by 1.60% and Axis Bank up by 1.17%. On the flip side, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.80%, Hindustan Unilever down by 0.82%, Reliance Industries down by 0.74%, NTPC down by 0.67% and Asian Paint down by 0.54% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Former World Bank chief economist Kaushik Basu has said that India's wholesale price-based inflation is at a 30-year high, leading to a very alarming situation for the country. He, however, doesn't see any risk of hyperinflation, but cautioned that if retail inflation follows wholesale prices, it might lead to ‘inflationary crisis’.

Basu said ‘there is a big risk of inflation and actually one particular kind of inflation. If you look at wholesale price inflation in India. Right now it is at a 30-year high’. Basu also said generally wholesale price inflation seeps into retail price inflation, so that this is a very alarming situation for India because prices are rising quite rapidly.

Stating that India needs a much better curation of policy once again between the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry, he said, ‘I feel not enough is happening once again between the Treasury, the finance ministry and the central bank for the inflation.’ He cautioned that there is a big risk of inflation going to be higher, though not huge. He opined 'I don't think there's any risk of hyperinflation or anything like that in India’. He observed ‘but it can go higher and if the retail prices begin to follow the wholesale prices, it is a major inflationary crisis, already, because the poor people have been hit so badly by the crisis.’

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 15,899.80 and 15,768.40 and there were 21 stocks advancing against 48 stocks declining, while 1 stock remain unchanged on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were ICICI Bank up by 3.12%, ITC up by 2.63%, Wipro up by 2.36%, SBI Life Insurance up by 2.24% and Tata Consumer Products up by 1.66%. On the flip side, Tata Motors down by 2.23%, Grasim Industries down by 2.03%, Adani Ports &SEZ down by 1.88%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.53% and UPL down by 1.06% were the top losers. 

European markets were trading higher; UK’s FTSE 100 increased 59.94 points or 0.86% to 7,028.24, France’s CAC increased 67.09 points or 1.04% to 6,548.68 and Germany’s DAX increased 147.57 points or 0.95% to 15,662.11.

Asian markets ended mostly lower on Friday despite positive cues from Wall Street overnight. Chinese and Hong Kong shares ended lower after reports emerged that Beijing is planning hefty penalties on Didi Global for listing its shares in the US in June. However, Seoul shares ended higher with optimism for strong earnings, while the government extended virus curbs in greater Seoul for another two weeks. Market sentiments improved further by dovish signals from the European Central Bank (ECB) which helped ease concerns about the fast-growing price pressure in the global financial markets. Meanwhile, Japanese stock market is closed for a long weekend on Thursday and Friday for public holidays.

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