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Indian markets -- Sensex and Nifty ended at record closing highs Friday led by across the board gains amid mixed global cues. Today, the markets are likely to make optimistic start of new week tracking global peers. Traders will be taking encouragement as foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country rose by more than twofold to $17.57 billion during April-June this fiscal on account of measures such as policy reforms and ease of doing business. Some support will come as foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pumped in a net of just Rs 986 crore in Indian equities during August, as cautiousness continued to persist among overseas investors. However, traders may be concerned as India recorded a spike of 43,381 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. The country also witnessed 527 deaths, taking the death toll to 438,387. So far, India has recorded 32,737,569 corona cases in total. There may be some cautiousness as India's foreign exchange reserves fell by $2.470 billion, during the week ended August 20. According to the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement, the reserves decreased to $616.895 billion from $619.365 billion reported for the week ended August 13. Traders may take note of report that Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may consider changing its policy course after economic activity shows signs of durability and sustainability, but it would be done in manner so as not to surprise the markets. Meanwhile, the focus will shift to the Q1 GDP print for the financial year 2021-22 slated to be out on Tuesday, August 31. According to an SBI research report, the GDP is expected to grow at around 18.5 per cent in the first quarter of the current financial year. Metal stocks will in limelight as CRISIL Research projects the overall Indian steel industry’s revenue to rise 50-60 per cent year on year in the current fiscal year (FY22), driven by 15-17 per cent growth in domestic demand and soaring realisations. There will be some reaction in agriculture industry stocks as agriculture ministry data released showed area sown to paddy has dipped 1.23 per cent at 388.56 lakh hectares so far in the 2021-22 kharif season due to deficit rains in some states. Coal Industry stocks will be in focus as India's coal import rose 50 per cent to 18.77 million tonnes (MT) in June this year, when compared to the shipments arrived in the same month of 2020. The action will return to the primary markets as two new issues -- Ami Organics and Vijaya Diagnostic -- are lined up to open on September 1.

The US markets ended higher on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated the US central bank could begin scaling back its bond buying program by year-end but did not give a firm timeline. Asian markets are trading in green on Monday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a more dovish tone than some investors expected in long-awaited speech on Friday.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended at record closing highs on Friday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech due later in the day. The benchmarks edged lower in morning as India recorded a spike of 44,558 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours out of which, over 31,000 were from Kerala. However, key indices soon witnessed a swift recovery after the initial fall and traded positive for the rest of the session. Traders took some support as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed with her BRICS counterparts the key areas of cooperation that would be crucial in supporting recovery of the grouping's economies and maintaining macroeconomic stability, while protecting against future uncertainties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some optimism also came with private report stated that hiring activity witnessed an overall 4 per cent sequential growth in July and the uptick was mainly spread across metros. It said compared to June, July 2021 saw a notable overall monthly growth of 4 per cent in hiring across all metros. Markets maintained upward momentum in afternoon session, taking support from IT industry body Nasscom’s statement that the new rules for operating drones in the country will usher in new growth opportunities and enable startups and SMEs to create innovative use cases and applications in various sectors like e-commerce, mining and emergency response. Domestic sentiments were positive, as Reserve Bank extended the scheme for encouraging deployment of Point of Sale (PoS) infrastructure to street vendors covered under the PM SVANidhi programme in tier 1 and 2 centres. Meanwhile, Governor Shaktikanta Das states that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) won't surprise the market with a sudden rate hike and all monetary policy actions would be carefully calibrated. The current inflation trajectory looked transitory. In its August policy review, the RBI kept the key rates unchanged and said the policy stance would remain accommodative as long as was necessary. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 175.62 points or 0.31% to 56,124.72, while the CNX Nifty was up by 68.30 points or 0.41% to 16,705.20.

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