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Indian equity benchmarks settled in red terrain on Wednesday. Today, the markets are likely to make positive start amid fall in crude oil prices. Traders will get support as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said India is in positive momentum with respect to signing trade deals with the UK, Australia, Canada, Bangladesh, the European Union (EU), and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations. Goyal said while the government is working towards early harvest agreements with the UK and Australia as part of a larger trade pact, the US has indicated that it is not considering a new trade agreement with India. India, he said, would look at working with the US on market access issues to promote bilateral trade. Some support will also come as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will launch an ambitious Ubharte Sitaare Fund for export-oriented firms and startups. The fund has been set up by Exim Bank and SIDBI. Meanwhile, India Ratings has revised its projections for economic growth during the current financial year to 9.4 per cent against its earlier forecast of 9.1-9.6 per cent. It would be 15.3 per cent in the first quarter, 8.3 per cent in the second quarter and 7.8 per cent in each of the remaining two quarters of the year. There will be some reaction in IT sector stocks as private report said that the government's information technology spending is projected to reach $8.3 billion in 2022, an increase of 8.6 per cent from 2021. Digitalization initiatives of Indian government organizations took a giant leap in 2020 because of the global Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. The pandemic forced the government to shift priorities as supply chains and revenue streams dwindled. There will be some buzz in power industry stocks as the Ministry of Power provided timelines for replacing existing electricity meters with smart meters with pre-payment feature in government offices, commercial establishments and industrial units, among others. According to a notification issued by the ministry, all consumers (other than agricultural users) in areas with communication network shall be supplied electricity with smart meters working in pre-payment mode.

The US markets ended mostly higher on Thursday after swinging between gains and losses throughout most of the session. Asian markets are trading mostly lower in early deals on Friday as the fast-spreading delta virus strain stoked concerns about economic growth and China’s regulatory curbs sapped sentiment. The dollar was firm and commodities held a decline.

Back Home, Indian equity benchmarks traded with a positive bias for most part of the day but selling activity which took place during late hour of trade mainly forced the markets to cut all of their gains and ended Friday’s session with losses, amid selling in Metal, Banking and Realty counters. The benchmarks opened higher, as sentiments got a boost as RBI article said the economy is gaining traction with gradual pick up in manufacturing activity and moderation in contraction of services, spurred by comfortable liquidity conditions. Sentiment remained positive with Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President A Sakthivel’s statement that the announcement of Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) rates will help in easing liquidity and enhance the competitiveness of domestic exporters over a long-time horizon. Some optimism also came with private report stated that COVID-19 has been a ‘watershed moment’ for India's e-retail market, driving a 12-month acceleration in penetration, and the segment is now forecast to grow to $120-140 billion by FY26. Adding to the optimism, Retailers Association of India (RAI) said retail sales across the country continued to recover in July, reaching 72 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels of July 2019, and businesses are pinning hopes on the festive seasons for a further boost. However, key indices wiped off initial gains and turned negative in the late afternoon session, as traders got anxious after traders' association CAIT said that the change of regime in Afghanistan and the uncertainty over future will hit the bilateral trade between the country and India. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also cautioned domestic exporters and sought the Centre's intervention in preventing losses to the business community. Some concern also came as CMIE’s latest data showed that unemployment rate in urban India has been on the rise since the beginning of the current month. From 8.03% for the week ended August 1, it jumped to 9.96% in the next week and further to an eight-week high of 10.23% for the week ended August 15. At a time when the rural joblessness is hovering between 6-7% since July - it touched 7.01% for the week ended August 15, the spike in urban unemployment rate to double-digit reflects the continued labour market stress in the non-agricultural sectors. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 162.78 points or 0.29% to 55,629.49, while the CNX Nifty was down by 45.75 points or 0.28% to 16,568.85.  

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