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Indian markets after hitting all-time highs in intraday trade on Thursday, took a breather and settled flat. Today, domestic indices are likely to make optimistic start backed by upbeat global cues. Foreign fund inflows likely to aid sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth Rs 294.69 crore on September 14. Traders take a note of report that domestic rating agency Icra said credit growth in the banking system’s will moderate to 12.1-13.2 per cent in the current fiscal from 15.4 per cent in the year-ago period. It said asset quality improvement will continue, while the Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) ratio is expected to come down to 2.8-3 per cent by March 2024, as against 3.7 per cent at the end of the June quarter. Meanwhile, Sumita Dawra, Special Secretary, Logistics, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) stated that India is aiming to further improve its ranking in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) to top 25 by 2030. India was ranked 44th on the index in 2018 and has now climbed to 38th in the 2023 listing. The country's performance has drastically improved from 2014, when it was ranked 54th on the LPI. Besides, the government has further reduced the stock limit on wheat traders, wholesalers and big chain retailers to 2,000 tonnes from 3,000 tonnes with immediate effect to control wheat prices which are showing uptick again after being stable for some time. Auto stocks will be in focus as Manish Raj Singhania, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada) said dealers in India currently maintain an average passenger vehicle (PV) inventory of 60 days, and they are content with it right now as they anticipate bumper sales during the upcoming festival season. There will be some reaction in NBFCs stocks with report that RBI has placed 15 non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) under the upper layer as per scale-based regulation (SBR) for 2023-24, which includes the likes of LIC Housing Finance, Bajaj Finance, L&T Finance, Shriram Finance and Tata Sons. Edible oil industry stocks will be in limelight as industry body SEA data showed that India's vegetable oil imports rose 33 per cent year-on- year to 18.66 lakh tonne in August due to lower duties and a revival of demand after a fall in domestic rates. India, the world's leading vegetable oil buyer, imported 14.01 lakh tonne of vegetable oil in August 2022.

The US markets ended higher on Thursday as investors cheered better-than-expected retail sales data and the blowout debut of chip designer Arm. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Friday as government data showed China's retail sales and industrial production picked up pace in August with better-than-expected growth.

Back home, after hitting all-time highs in intraday trade, Indian equity benchmarks took a breather and settled flat with a positive bias. The start of the day was on a strong note following overnight gains on Wall Street as well as mostly positive cues from Asian counterparts. But soon, markets cut gains and remained range-bound throughout the day, as foreign fund outflows dented domestic sentiments. Provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth Rs 1,631.63 crore on September 13. During the session, traders were cautious, as the European Central Bank is set to decide on Thursday whether to raise its key interest rate to a record peak in what should be its final step in the fight against inflation, or take a break as the economy deteriorates. The street took a note of reports that India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) remained in the negative territory for the fifth straight month in August 2023 at (-) 0.52% as against (-) 1.36% recorded in July 2023. Despite volatility, markets managed to end higher, after Fitch Ratings in its September update of the Global Economic Outlook has said that the Indian economy continues to show resilience despite tighter monetary policy and weakness in exports, with growth outpacing other countries in the region, retaining India’s growth forecast at 6.3% for the current fiscal year (FY24). Investors digested the US consumer-price index data showing inflation picked up in August, but likely not by enough to prompt a September interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 52.01 points or 0.08 % to 67,519.00 and the CNX Nifty up by 33.10 points or 0.16% to 20103.10.