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Indian markets ended at record high levels on Friday led by strong gains in metals, energy and auto stocks. Today, the start of holiday truncated week is likely to be higher amid mixed global cues. Markets will remain shut on Friday, September 10, on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Traders will be taking encouragement with a private report that recovering from the economic slump caused by the pandemic, hiring trends saw an improvement in August. The previous month saw a 26% on-year increase in hiring activity to 2.78 lakh. Although the numbers are a tad bit shy of where they were in July, experts say the trend remains positive brushing away any concerns. Some support will come with a private report that the government's collections from levy of excise duty on petroleum products have jumped 48 per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal year, with the incremental mop-up being 3-times of the repayment liability of legacy oil bonds in the full fiscal. Also, the RBI data showed that the country's foreign exchange reserves soared by $16.663 billion to touch a lifetime high of $633.558 billion in the week ended August 27, mainly due to an increase in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) holdings. Traders may take note of report that the government is likely to extend an incentive scheme for leather and footwear industries, IFLADP, till 2025-26 with an outlay of Rs 1,700 crore, to further boost manufacturing, exports and job creation. Besides, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 16,459 crore in Indian markets in August, with majority of investment coming in the debt segment. In equities, they invested just Rs 2,082.94 crore while debt segment saw inflow of Rs 14,376.2 crore between August 2-31. There will be some buzz in metal stocks as Minister of State (MoS) for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said India's crude steel output is expected to soar about 18 per cent to 120 million tonnes (MT) by the end of the ongoing financial year. Textile industry stocks will be in focus as Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal said the value of textile exports should be increased to $100 billion from $33 billion currently. There will be some reaction in coal industry stocks as in order to make more coal available to power plants that do not have any power purchase agreement (PPA), the union power ministry agreed to changes in the guidelines for SHAKTI scheme.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Friday as slower US jobs growth raised questions about the pace of the recovery. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday amid an ongoing rally in Japan sparked by the planned exit of the prime minister and as traders mulled slower U.S. hiring that may delay a reduction in stimulus.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks closed at record closing highs for yet another session driven by gains in index major Reliance Industries amid by largely positive trend in global markets and sustained foreign fund inflows. Benchmarks made positive start, as sentiments got boost with the commerce ministry's provisional data showed that India's exports jumped 45.17 per cent to $33.14 billion in August as against $22.83 billion in the same month last year. Traders also found some support with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the Rs 100 lakh crore-Gatishakti scheme will provide a framework for the National Infrastructure Pipeline programme and make Indian products more competitive by cutting down logistic costs and improving supply chains. He also sought investments in the road sector from insurance and pension funds of the US. However, benchmarks witnessed volatility in late morning deals due to a consistent rise in the coronavirus cases and fear of a third Covid wave is driving investors towards defensive bets. India reported over 45,000 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. This was also the biggest single-day rise in two months. Some concern also came with Ratings agency ICRA’s statement that fiscal balances of 19 states in the quarter ended June of current financial year (Q1FY22) are weaker than pre-Covid levels with milder recovery in revenue and spending. But, markets soon regained positive momentum to end higher as India’s service sector growth resumed in the month of August as the pandemic continued to recede and vaccine access improved. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted Nikkei Services Business Activity Index stood at 56.7 in August from 45.4 in July. Further, the Nikkei India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services – stood at 55.4 in August, from 49.2 in July. Adding to the optimism, a report said hiring activity in India has been on a steady recovery and the hiring rate in July this year was around 65 per cent above the pre-COVID level. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 277.41 points or 0.48% to 58,129.95, while the CNX Nifty was up by 89.45 points or 0.52% to 17,323.60. 

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