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Indian markets fell for the second day in a row on Friday pushing the Nifty50 below 15700 levels amid cautious global sentiment. Today, the markets are likely to make firm opening following strong global cues. Traders will be taking encouragement as Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar the economy will register a double-digit growth in the current fiscal and the disinvestment climate also looks better, with India's story remaining very strong. He also asserted that the country is prepared in a far better manner in case there is a Covid wave as states have also their own lessons from the previous two waves. Some support will come as the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) poll of 119 top corporates showed that recovery from the second wave of the pandemic in April-May is expected to be swifter as compared to the first wave in 2020. Traders may take note of report that India has recorded 37,676 fresh cases taking the total caseload to 30,873,907, according to Worldometer. The death count increased to 408,792 with 720 new fatalities, the data showed. Meanwhile, after reaching a historic high, the diesel prices decreased by 15 to 17 paise on July 12. However, the price of petrol were hiked again by 25 to 34 paise on the day, taking the prices across the country to another high. There will be some buzz in oil & gas industry stocks with data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas showing that India’s fuel consumption rose 1.5 percent to 16.33 million tonnes in June from a year earlier and by 8 percent over May 2021. Power stocks will be in focus as power ministry data showed that India's power consumption grew nearly 18 per cent in first week of July to 30.33 billion units (BU) compared to a year ago and returned to pre-pandemic level mainly due to easing of lockdown curbs and delayed monsoon. There will be some reaction in financial stocks as Icra said the restructured loan books of non-bank financial entities are expected to double to 3.1-3.3 per cent by March 2022 from 1.6 per cent in March 2021 as the second wave of the pandemic hit borrowers.

The US markets ended higher on Friday as financials and other economically focused sectors rebounded after a selloff sparked by growth worries earlier in the week. Asian markets are trading in green on Monday as record highs on Wall Street and policy easing in China helped calm some of the recent jitters on global growth, though plenty of potential pitfalls lay ahead this week.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended lower for second straight session on Friday, tracking the decline in global peers amid concerns that the spread of covid variants could disrupt economic recovery. The benchmarks opened lower and traded with a negative bias throughout the day, as traders got anxious with a private report that southwest monsoon has practically stalled over most parts of the country since June 19. This has not only delayed its progress over north India but has also badly impacted the sowing of the kharif crop. Some concern also came amid reports that inflows into equity mutual funds dropped sharply by 40 per cent to Rs 5,988 crore in June on profit booking by investors as stock markets witnessed sharp rallies in recent times. In comparison, the equity mutual funds saw a net inflow to the tune of Rs 10,083 crore in May, the highest fund infusion in 14 months, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Thursday. Benchmarks continued their weak trade in afternoon session, as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) stood as net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 554.92 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data. Traders also got worried after Care Ratings’ report said that significant rise in prices of petrol and diesel in many Indian states, commodities such as edible oils, foodgrain, vegetables are seeing some inflation too. High petrol and diesel prices impact Wholesale Price Index (WPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI), pushing up commodity prices, and that can be more damaging. The impact of fuel price hike is such that it percolates into prices of other goods by way of transport, logistics and freight costs. However, markets recouped some losses ahead of the closing bell as some support came from Industry chamber PHDCCI’s statement that the gradual receding of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has created scope for the economy to recover from the daunting impact witnessed in April and May 2021. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 182.75 points or 0.35% to 52,386.19, while the CNX Nifty was down by 38.10 points or 0.24% to 15,689.80.

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