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Indian equity benchmarks managed to end the volatile day of trade with marginal gains as profit booking in later part of the trade ate most of the initial gains. Markets made a gap-up opening as traders took encouragement with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that India has ramped up the import of crude oil from Russia at discounted prices amid sanctions on Moscow as part of the country’s inflation management. Sentiments also remained jubilant after Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the efforts of the Central government for the welfare of the citizens, including the ones toward agriculture and rural households and said that it is the government's priority to support crores of farmers all across the nation at every step. Besides, the joint study conducted by both countries for the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) said that India’s exports to Bangladesh may increase by additional $10 billion in a time span of five years if both countries sign a free trade agreement (FTA).

However, traders started booking profit at higher levels where Sensex surpass 60,100 level. Traders turned little cautious on report that the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said consumer sentiments in India deteriorated in August 2022 and in the first week of September, after having improved substantially in the previous month, with significant dip in urban sentiments. According to CMIE, the Index of Consumer Sentiments (ICS) shrunk by 0.5% in August, after having risen by an impressive 6.7% in July, and further by a 3.1% in the first week of September. Anxiety remained amongst investors after India Ratings in its latest report has said that falling wage growth is emerging as a bigger worry in India as it leads to tepid demand and results in under-utilisation of capacity, further widening the output gap. However, markets some-how managed to went home with marginal gains as some solace came with report that India and US will 'very soon' hold the next ministerial-level meeting of the Trade Policy Forum (TPF) in America to discuss ways for promoting trade and investment between the countries. The forum is an inter-agency collaboration led by the US Trade Representative (USTR).

Firm opening in European counters too aided some sentiments as investors digest the European Central Bank’s jumbo rate hike ahead of a key EU meeting to discuss plans to tackle the region’s energy crisis. Asian markets settled higher on Friday, after consumer prices in China were up 2.5 percent on year in August. That was shy of forecasts for 2.8 percent and down from 2.7 percent in July. On a monthly basis, inflation fell 0.1 percent versus expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent and slowing from a 0.5 percent gain in the previous month.

Back home, Crisil in its latest report has said that steel-makers are in for better times from the second half of the current fiscal (H2FY23) as lower input cost and robust domestic demand will ease their margin pressure and lift operating margins to over 25 per cent. It stated the industry was hit by high input costs in the first quarter and is still under pressure in the ongoing second quarter. On the sectoral front, power stocks remained in focus as a draft government plan showed India expects annual electricity demand to grow at an average of 7.2% over five years ending March 2027, nearly double the growth rate of over 4% seen during the five years to March 2022.

Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 104.92 points or 0.18% to 59,793.14 and the CNX Nifty was up by 34.60 points or 0.19% to 17,833.35.

The BSE Sensex touched high and low of 60,119.80 and 59,634.39, respectively. There were 13 stocks advancing against 17 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 0.16%, while Small cap index was up by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 2.06%, TECK up by 1.59%, Bankex up by 0.51%, Metal up by 0.50% and Auto up by 0.44%, while Telecom down by 0.71%, Utilities down by 0.62%, Realty down by 0.49%, Power down by 0.49% and Capital Goods down by 0.34% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tech Mahindra up by 3.32%, Indusind Bank up by 2.60%, Infosys up by 2.43%, HCL Tech up by 1.90% and Maruti Suzuki up by 1.80%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.94%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.54%, Larsen & Toubro down by 1.26%, Bajaj Finserv down by 1.03% and Bajaj Finance down by 1.03% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, assuring that India will take decisions on different aspects of the frameworks of the India-Pacific Economic Forum (IPEF) based on national interest, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal has expressed hope that in a day’s time, IPEF would finalize a framework within which member nations could interact on different areas of mutual interest.

Goyal further noted that in this day and age of work from home, new opportunities have opened up for youngsters, especially the young people in tier 2 and 3 cities and remote areas to provide cost-effective solutions to US companies and it has been received with a great deal of excitement by US businesses.

Talking on the upskilling initiative he launched in San Francisco, SETU, the Minister said that India would be its beneficiaries too with youngsters, especially girls, who have tremendous potential standing to gain from the training and upskilling being offered by the reputed firms who are part of the initiative.

The CNX Nifty traded in a range of 17,786.00 and 17,925.95. There were 26 stocks advancing against 24 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Tech Mahindra up by 3.40%, Indusind Bank up by 2.60%, Adani Ports up by 2.46%, Infosys up by 2.42% and HCL Tech up by 1.87%. On the flip side, Ultratech Cement down by 1.97%, Mahindra & Mahindra down by 1.56%, SBI Life Insurance down by 1.54%, HDFC Life Insurance down by 1.44% and Larsen & Toubro down by 1.25% were the top losers.

European markets were trading higher, UK’s FTSE 100 increased 109.03 points or 1.5% to 7,371.09, France’s CAC increased 88.53 points or 1.45% to 6,214.43 and Germany’s DAX was up by 194.25 points or 1.51% to 13,098.57.

Asian markets settled higher on Friday, tracking Wall Street gains overnight as investors digested US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments on interest rate hikes to combat runaway inflation. Chinese shares ended up after data showed China’s consumer inflation came in at 2.5% in August, lower than the 2.7% recorded in July. Japanese shares gained even as the supersized interest rate hike by the European Central Bank and its commitment to hike rates aggressively to fight inflation. Meanwhile, South Korean markets were closed for Chuseok fall harvest holiday and Taiwan markets were closed for Mid-Autumn