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Indian markets continued to recover for a second straight session on Thursday amid buying across sectors, boosted by strength in heavyweights Reliance, Infosys and the HDFC twins. Today, the markets are likely to get gap-down opening as global mood turned sour overnight. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested the US central bank would move aggressively to curb inflation. Rising crude oil prices may dent domestic market sentiments. Crude oil prices rose buffeted by concerns about tightened supply as the European Union mulls a potential ban on Russian oil imports that would further restrict worldwide oil trade. There will be some cautiousness as foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian shares worth Rs 713.7 crore -- a tenth straight day of outflow for the Street. However, some support may come later in the day as the RBI data showed bank credit grew by 10.09 per cent to Rs 119.88 lakh crore and deposits by 10.06 per cent to Rs 167.42 lakh crore in the fortnight ended on April 8. In the fortnight ended on April 9, 2021, bank advances stood at Rs 108.88 lakh crore and deposits at Rs 152.11 lakh crore. Traders may take note of report that government think tank Niti Aayog released a draft battery swapping policy under which all metropolitan cities with a population above 40 lakh will be prioritised for development of battery swapping network under the first phase. Meanwhile, an Emirati minister said the historic Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between India and the UAE will come into effect on May 1. The agreement will provide significant benefits to Indian and UAE businesses, including enhanced market access and reduced tariffs. There will be some buzz in gems and jewellery industry stocks as industry body GJEPC said gems and jewellery exports rebounded in 2021-22 to touch $39.15 billion, showing a nearly 55 per cent jump compared to the previous financial year. The gross gems and jewellery exports stood at $25.40 billion during 2020-21. There will be some reaction in fertilizer industry stocks with Crisil’s report that the fertiliser subsidy is likely to touch an all-time high of Rs 1.65 lakh crore this financial year against the budget estimate of Rs 1.05 lakh crore due to an unprecedented rise in the cost of raw materials and fertilisers globally. Steel stocks will be in limelight as Steel Minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh said India produced 120 million tonne (MT) of crude steel during financial year ended March 31, 2022. At 120 MT, the output was about 18 per cent higher compared to the country's production in the preceding fiscal year.

The US markets sharply lower on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve chief, Jerome Powell, suggested that the central bank would move aggressively to curb inflation and a 50 basis points rate hike was seen on the table in May 2022. Asian markets are trading mostly in red on Friday following overnight losses on Wall Street.

Back home, Extending gaining streak for second straight session, Indian equity benchmarks made healthy gains on Thursday, with the help of strong buying support in Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and Bajaj Finserv amid positive global cues. After a fabulous start, key indices remained under grip of bulls throughout the session, as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva said a high growth rate for India, as projected in the latest World Economic Outlook, is not only healthy for the country but also positive news for the world. Adding enthusiasm among traders, Service Export Promotion Council (SEPC) stated that services sector exports are likely to touch $350 billion in the current fiscal. It said the target has been revised from $300 billion to $350 billion for 2022-23 and is set in consideration to the sectors which couldn't perform in the last 2 years due to the pandemic and hopefully will bounce back in FY23, like travel and tourism, hospitality, education and entertainment. Markets remained strong during second half of the session, taking support from Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan (NMP), aimed at improving multi-modal connectivity and last-mile connectivity across the country, is important for achieving the prime minister's dream of making India a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25. The street was also positive with retirement fund body EPFO said it added 14.12 lakh subscribers in February 2022, 14 per cent more than 12.37 lakh enrolled in the same month a year ago. Meanwhile, the government is likely to take a call on the timing of LIC initial public offering within this week. The sale of 5 per cent stake or 31.6 crore shares in the country's largest insurer was originally planned for in March, but was postponed in view of the geopolitical tension. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 874.18 points or 1.53% to 57,911.68 and the CNX Nifty was up by 256.05 points or 1.49% to 17,392.60.

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