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Indian markets ended higher with gains of around a percent on Thursday as positive global cues, sharp fall in crude oil prices and strong overseas flows aided the sentiments. Today, the markets likely to continue their previous session’s northward journey with positive start following gains in global markets. Some support will come 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. Buying by Foreign investors likely to aid sentiments. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 2,913.09 crore on September 8, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Besides, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will open up opportunities for countries like India to work in partnership with other like-minded nations and ensure that supply chains remain open and businesses don't suffer, particularly during difficult times. However, there may be some cautiousness as 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. Traders may take note of report that the government imposed a 20 per cent export duty on non-Basmati rice except for parboiled rice to boost domestic supplies amid a fall in area under the paddy crop in the current Kharif season. There will be some buzz in steel industry stocks with Crisil's report that steel-makers are in for better times from the second half of the current fiscal as lower input cost and robust domestic demand will ease their margin pressure and lift operating margins to over 25 per cent. Power stocks will be 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. There will be some reaction in broking industry stocks as ICRA Research in a note said the growth in the domestic broking industry is moderating, following a robust performance during the 2021-22 financial year (FY22). It added during the first quarter of FY23, the net operating income for the industry fell 10 per cent, while net profits dropped 25 per cent on a quarterly basis.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday mainly lifted by financial institutions and healthcare companies, as investors digested hawkish remarks from policymakers that cemented bets of a large interest rate hike later this month. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday as investors digest Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s latest comments as he vowed to raise rates to tackle inflation until the job is done.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended with strong gains on Thursday following value buying in banking, TECK and IT stocks and a largely positive trend in global markets. Markets begun the day on a strong note, as traders took encouragement as International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that despite global uncertainty and headwinds, India continues to be a bright spot in the global economy. Investors continued to take support with Sanjiv Bajaj, President of industry body CII stating that India is in a much better position to deal with the challenges related to growth and inflation. Besides, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth Rs 758.37 crore on September 7, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Markets extended gains in last leg of trade, taking support as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that inflation has come down to a manageable level and said the country’s economic growth remains a priority for the government. She added that job creation and equitable distribution of wealth remain the other focus areas. The sentiments remained ebullient amid private report stating that the Indian market has chartered a divergent path with most world markets over the past three months. To illustrate, the benchmark Sensex is up 7 per cent over the past three months even as the MSCI World index has declined 7 per cent. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 659.31 points or 1.12% to 59,688.22 and the CNX Nifty was up by 174.35 points or 0.99% to 17,798.75.

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