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Indian markets rallied on Thursday led by broad-based buying, with underlying sentiment boosted by falling oil prices, declining U.S. yields and a weakening dollar. Today, markets are likely to get negative start after three days of consecutive gains amid mixed cues from other Asian counterparts. Traders will be cornered as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the ongoing global uncertainty and recessionary trends could have some implications on India's exports. However, some respite may come later in the day as Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran expressed hope that the economy will maintain the trend growth rate of 6.5 per cent and above for the rest of the years in the current decade. He added the economy will close the current fiscal logging in a growth of 6.5-7%. Some support may come as the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) showed that India’s urban unemployment rate for persons aged 15 years and above in urban areas dropped for the fifth consecutive quarter in the July-September period of 2022-23 (FY23) to 7.2% from 9.8% a year ago. Also, the finance ministry in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for October said that India’s consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation could ease in the coming months thanks to the arrival of kharif crops, lower international commodity prices, and a pass through of lower input costs to consumers. Traders may take note of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have agreed to pursue a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two regions and resume the negotiations. Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,231.98 crore on November 24, as per provisional data available on the NSE. Hospitality industry stocks will be in focus as representatives from Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and sought granting of infrastructure status to the hospitality industry in the forthcoming Budget.

The US markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. Asian markets are trading mixed on Friday as investors digest economic data from the region, including Tokyo’s consumer price index and Singapore’s final gross domestic product readings. Also, China reported another record high of daily COVID cases and tightened pandemic curbs across the country.

Back home, extending gains to the third straight day, Indian equity benchmarks closed at an all-time closing high on Thursday, tracking a firm trend in global markets after the US Fed minutes indicated a slower pace of rate increase that bolstered investors’ sentiment. Key indices started on a positive note and extended the gains during the day as sentiments got a boost as Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said India's tax collection will exceed the budget estimate by nearly Rs 4 lakh crore in the current fiscal on the back of buoyant income tax, customs duty and GST mop-up. Sentiments remained up-beat as the S&P Global Market Intelligence projected India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to average 6.3 per cent annually between financial years 2021 and 2030, enabling it to overtake Japan and Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy in nominal US dollar terms. Markets witnessed strong momentum towards the end of the session, taking support from report stated that Indian banking system is much better placed than the last cycle, and will be able to sustain the current round of high loan growth. It also said learnings from the last cycle of high loan growth which ultimately led to a huge spurt in sour loans have been internalised by the banking system. Sentiments remained positive as the government approved the continuation of interest subvention scheme for short-term loans of up to Rs 3 lakh for agriculture and allied activities availed through Kisan Credit Card (KCC) during the current and the next fiscals. Adding more optimism among traders, Amit Shah said ‘we are moving at a fast pace towards achieving target of $5 trillion economy by 2025’. The optimism was further boosted by falling crude prices and the declining dollar index. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 762.10 points or 1.24% to 62,272.68 and the CNX Nifty was up by 216.85 points or 1.19% to 18,484.10.

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