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Extending their winning streak for third straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended the Thursday’s trade at their record closing high levels with frontline gauges settling above their crucial 53,100 (Sensex) and 15,900 (Nifty) levels for the first time led by buying in realty and IT stocks. Sentiments remained upbeat throughout the day with key gauges making a positive start after Crisil’s latest report stating that the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) insistence on companies opening current accounts with banks is among the factors that has helped large lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI raise their shares of the competitive corporate banking market in 2020. It stated apart from the RBI rules, the government's mega merger to reduce the number of state-owned banks has also helped in the trend. Market participants also remained optimistic on report that India's new Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has started dialling oil-producing nations to impress upon them for a need to make prices affordable for consumers. Puri, who last week called Energy Minister of Qatar, dialled his counterpart in the UAE, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber.

Markets extended gains in second half of the trade as traders continued to remain upbeat with private report stating IT spending in the country is expected to grow at 8 per cent to $92.7 billion in 2021. The growth at 8 percent is a shade less than the world average of 8.6 per cent and global spends on information technology are estimated to come at $4.2 trillion. Some support also came with ICRA Ratings’ survey stating that around 42 percent of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) expect a growth of more than 15 per cent in their asset under management (AUM) in fiscal 2021-22. It said NBFCs growth expectations have moderated vis-a-vis the expectations six months earlier. Traders shrugged off private report that even though the second wave has ebbed, the increased presence of the Delta variant and the subsequent mutations of the coronavirus makes the third wave a real risk for the country.

On the global front, European markets were trading in red as lower crude prices hit oil stocks, while Siemens Energy’s margin outlook weighed on wind energy companies. Asian markets ended mostly in green after China released a raft of key data indicating solid but slowing growth while the Federal Reserve chief said the US central bank would maintain its stimulus until the recovery was well under way.

Back home, stocks related to shipping sector remained in limelight as the Union Cabinet approved a scheme to provide Rs 1,624 crore over five years as subsidy to Indian shipping companies in global tenders floated by ministries and CPSEs for import of government cargo. Textile stocks were in limelight as garment exporters will continue to get a rebate on central and state taxes on their outward shipments as the government on Wednesday approved extension of RoSCTL scheme till March 2024. On the flip side, auto stocks edged lower after Auto industry body -- Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said rising fuel prices will have a negative impact on the automobile industry, hitting vehicle demand, while also adding to the overall inflationary pressure.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 254.80 points or 0.48% to 53,158.85, while the CNX Nifty was up by 70.25 points or 0.44% to 15,924.20.   

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 53266.12 and 52948.43, respectively and there were 17 stocks advancing against 13 stocks declining on the index.    

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.31%, while Small cap index was up by 0.43%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 4.01%, Capital Goods up by 2.04%, IT up by 1.20%, Industrials up by 1.07% and Metal was up by 0.79%, while Oil & Gas down by 0.87%, Telecom down by 0.84%, PSU down by 0.49%, Energy down by 0.37% and Auto down by 0.36% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were HCL Tech up by 5.00%, Larsen & Toubro up by 3.74%, Tech Mahindra up by 2.93%, HDFC Bank up by 1.58% and Tata Steel up by 1.21%. On the flip side, Bharti Airtel down by 0.87%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.78%, Titan Company down by 0.64%, NTPC down by 0.58% and Asian Paints down by 0.55% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, rating agency Crisil in its latest report said the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) insistence on companies opening current accounts with banks is among the factors that has helped large lenders such as HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI raise their shares of the competitive corporate banking market in 2020. It stated apart from the RBI rules, the government's mega merger to reduce the number of state-owned banks has also helped in the trend.

In mid-2020, the RBI had come up with the circular that specified which bank can open a current account for a borrower, in order to check any misuse through multiple current accounts. Report mentioned  several trends have contributed to the pick-up in market penetration among the leading banks, including the 'mega merger' of the country's public sector banks and the Reserve Bank of India's 'circular on current accounts', which essentially rules that banks can only open current accounts for companies to whom they are also major credit providers.

Besides, it said that even before the start of the global pandemic, India's corporate banking market was on a consolidation path, driven by decisive steps by regulators to solidify the country's banking sector, and the rapid evolution and growth of the leading private banks.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 15855.00 and 15952.35 and there were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.  

The top gainers on Nifty were HCL Tech up by 5.08%, Larsen & Toubro up by 4.19%, Tech Mahindra up by 3.15%, Wipro up by 2.53% and Hindalco up by 2.50%. On the flip side, ONGC down by 3.23%, Eicher Motors down by 1.20%, Coal India down by 0.98%, Bharti Airtel down by 0.87% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 0.80% were the top losers.

European markets were trading in red, France’s CAC decreased 25.40 points or 0.39% to 6,532.98, Germany’s DAX shed 94.18 points or 0.60% to 15,694.80 and UK’s FTSE 100 was down by 15.19 points or 0.23% to 7,075.21.

Asian markets ended mostly higher on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statement that inflation will moderate and that the central bank plans to maintain its current monetary policies. Chinese shares ended higher after better-than-expected retail sales in June, while hoping for more government policy support after the economic growth in the second quarter missed expectations. Retail sales expanded 12.1 percent year-on-year, beating expectations for 11 percent after rising 12.4 percent in May. However, Japanese shares declined on investors’ caution ahead of earnings, with some eyeing on Covid-19 cases surge a week before the 2020 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

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