Indian equity benchmarks continued their winning run for the second straight day and ended with gains of over a percent on Thursday, on the back of positive global cues. Sensex and Nifty settled above their crucial 31,850 and 9,300 levels, respectively. Key indices opened in green and stayed in the positive terrain for whole trading session, as traders took encouragement with Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal's statement that more calibrated monetary and fiscal stimulus measures are on the anvil to deal with the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown. He expressed hope that a significant part of the economy will be functioning, if not everything, by May 3. However, key indices trimmed some of their gains in late afternoon session as Fitch Ratings slashed India's economic growth projections to 0.8 per cent in the current 2020-21 fiscal saying an unparalleled global recession was underway due to disruptions caused by the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdowns. But, markets regained its upward momentum to end near day's high, as traders found support with the Centre slashing the subsidy on non-urea fertilisers, a move that would reduce the burden on the exchequer to Rs 22,186.55 crore in this fiscal amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Investors were also eyeing the two-day (April 23-24) meeting of the economic advisory council which is expected to deliberate on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on economic growth in this fiscal year and the next. Finally, the BSE Sensex gained 483.53 points or 1.54% to 31,863.08, while the CNX Nifty was up by 126.60 points or 1.38% to 9,313.90.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Thursday as traders reacted to conflicting reports regarding Gilead Sciences' (GILD) potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir.  A private report said the drug flopped in its first randomized clinical trial. Citing draft documents accidentally published by the World Health Organization, report said the Chinese trial showed remdesivir did not improve patients' condition or reduce the pathogen's presence in the bloodstream. On the economic data front, more than 4 million people filed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended April 18th, according to a report released by the Labor Department , although that reflects a continued decline from the nearly 7 million people that filed first-time claims in the last week of March. The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped to 4.427 million, a decrease of 810,000 from the previous week's revised level of 5.237 million. Street had expected jobless claims to slump to 4.200 million from the 5.245 million originally reported for the previous week. Meanwhile, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a substantial decrease in new home sales in the US in the month of March. The Commerce Department said new home sales plunged by 15.4 percent to an annual rate of 627,000 in March after tumbling by 4.6 percent to a revised rate of 741,000 in February. Street had expected new home sales to nosedive by 15.7 percent to an annual rate of 645,000 in March from the 765,000 originally reported for the previous month.

Magnifying their previous session's rally, crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as an escalation in tensions in the Middle East, and expectations of output cut by leading producers lifted the commodity. Following Iran's Revolutionary Guard conducting a space launch that could advance its the country's long-range missile program, US President Donald Trump threatened to engage Iranian gunboats that harassed US navy vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.  Besides, Investors were also betting on more stimulus from central banks and governments across the globe. Crude oil futures for June surged $2.72 or 19.7 percent to settle at $16.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June Brent crude rose 96 cents or 4.7 percent to settle at $21.33 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Extending gains for a second day, Indian rupee ended significantly higher against dollar on Thursday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments remained optimistic as Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal said more calibrated monetary and fiscal stimulus measures are on the anvil to deal with the economic fallout from COVID-19 and the consequent lockdown. He expressed hope that a significant part of the economy will be functioning, if not everything, by May 3. Healthy gains in domestic stocks and some weakness in the greenback against global currencies also supported local unit.  On the global front, dollar erased gains and fell against the currencies on Thursday, as a rebound in crude prices after an unprecedented collapse helped to calm markets unnerved by the massive coronavirus-led drop in global demand. Finally, the rupee ended at 76.06, 62 paise stronger from its previous close of 76.68 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5852.00 crore against gross selling of Rs 6643.23 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 443.18 crore with gross sales of Rs 514.31 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 16.29 crore against gross selling of Rs 15.19 crore.

The US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday as traders reacted to conflicting reports regarding Gilead Sciences' (GILD) potential coronavirus treatment remdesivir. Asian markets are trading in red on Friday after an overnight report that raised doubts over a potential coronavirus treatment. Indian markets ended higher for the second straight session on Thursday, with IT and private banks' stocks leading the surge amid strong recovery in global markets. Today, the start of last session of the week is likely to be negative tracking weakness in global markets amid concerns over coronavirus treatment. Traders will be concerned with rising coronavirus cases in the country. Total COVID-19 cases in India has gone up to 21,700. This includes 16,689 active coronavirus cases, while 4324 patients have been cured/discharged. As many as 686 people have died due to coronavirus in the country. Also, there will be some cautiousness with the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) report that India's GDP is likely to range between a decline of 0.9% and a growth of 1.5% in the current financial year, with the economy undergoing a turbulent phase caused by the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Though, some support may come later in the day with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will again meet on April 24 to finalise a second stimulus package for industry, the poor and farmers. Traders may take note of report that relaxing norms, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted banks to issue electronic cards to persons having overdraft accounts that are only in the nature of personal loan without any specific end-use restrictions. Meanwhile, providing compliance relaxation amid the coronavirus pandemic, markets regulator Sebi has gave time till September-end to certain companies for conducting their annual general meetings. There will be some reaction in refinery stocks with Crisil Rating's report that Indian oil refiners may have incurred an inventory loss of Rs 25,000 crore in the January-March period as oil prices slumped and are now likely seeing a plunge in refining margins in the current quarter. Metal stocks will be in focus with the World Steel Association's latest report showing that India's crude steel output declined 14% to 8.65 million tonne (MT) during March. Also, hospital sector stocks will be in action with ICRA's report that the Covid-19 epidemic has not just impacted the functioning of hospital sector, but has also dragged down the short- term outlook to negative on account of a sharp fall in volumes both at the out- patient department (OPD) and the in-patient department (IPD).   

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• Tata Motors has extended the warranty for its commercial vehicles customers worldwide. 
• Tech Mahindra is collaborating with IBM to help businesses transform their operations and accelerate their hybrid cloud strategies. 
• Vedanta has spent Rs 151 crore so far to provide preventive healthcare to local communities and distributing free meals to daily wage workers. 
• Tata Steel has reported 11% fall in its consolidated sales at 7 MT during March quarter 2020 as compared to the year-ago period.