Bulls went brisk on Dalal Street on second day in the row, with frontline gauges logging new record highs for yet another day, conquering their crucial 11,250 (Nifty) and 37,300 (Sensex) bastions for the first time ever on Friday. After a gap-up opening, there appeared not even an iota of profit booking in the session with benchmarks fervently gaining from strength to strength to end near intraday highs, as investors continued hunt for fundamentally strong stocks. Sentiments remained up-beat with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that the government's digitization initiative will bring more transparency in the system. Traders remained optimistic with a private report that after almost a year and half of disruptions in Indian economy due to demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the consumer sentiment is up in the month of July on all fronts from jobs, investments, health of the economy to personal finance. Meanwhile, a report stated that the BRICS nations resolved to strengthen multilateral trading system and called upon member countries of the World Trade Organisation to abide by the rules, amid ongoing trade disputes between major economies. Markets extended northward journey to end near intraday highs on private report stating that trading across borders, payment of indirect taxes and insolvency resolution are the three sets of reforms where India is upbeat, ahead of the release of the World Bank's ease of doing business report later this year. Investors took encouragement with report that foreign direct investment (FDI) from nations widely regarded as tax havens such as Cayman Islands and Hong Kong jumped in 2017-18, even as overall India-bound investments showed a slower rise, year-on-year (Y-o-Y). From the Cayman Islands, inflows rose in a single year from a low $71.03 million to a whopping $1.23 billion. Traders got some support with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia's statement that the US wants to reduce its trade deficit with India as quickly as possible, asserting that the Trump administration is aggressively pushing New Delhi on the issues of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, dairy products and agriculture. Finally, the BSE Sensex surged 352.21 points or 0.95% to 37,336.85, while the CNX Nifty was up by 111.05 points or 0.99% to 11,278.35.

The US markets slid firmly into negative territory after ending the previous session mixed. Major averages traded lackluster in first half of the day but selling in second half took benchmarks near intraday lows. The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to earnings news from companies such as Twitter (TWTR), Intel (INTC) and Exxon Mobil (XOM). Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Commerce Department showing a significant acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter. The report said real gross domestic product jumped by 4.1 percent in the second quarter following a 2.2 percent increase in the first quarter. Economists had expected GDP to surge up by 4.2 percent. The faster rate of GDP growth reflected accelerations in consumer spending and exports, a smaller decrease in residential fixed investment, and accelerations in federal government spending and in state and local spending. A separate report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment deteriorated by less than initially estimated in the month of July. Despite the upward revision, the index was still down from 98.2 in June. The S&P 500 declined 18.62 points or 0.66 percent to 2818.82 and the Nasdaq shed 114.77 points or 1.46 percent to 7737.42 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down by 76.01 points or 0.30 percent to 25,451.06.

Crude oil futures ended lower on Friday, despite data from the U.S. Commerce Department showing the U.S. economy to have grown at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter. Since the data fell slightly short of forecasts, it failed to trigger any big buying in equity markets or in the commodities exchange. The impact of US sanctions on Iran with regard to crude oil has already been factored in and hence crude is unable to make any significant progress. Meanwhile, according to a report from Baker Hughes, three oil rigs were added in U.S. by energy companies in the week ended July 27, making the total rigs count to 863 now. Benchmark crude oil futures for September declined 92 cents or 1.3 percent to settle at $68.69 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude shed 25 cents or 0.3 percent at $74.29 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Indian rupee ended marginally lower against US dollar on Friday, due to fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. Traders remained cautious ahead of RBI policy meeting that is scheduled for next week and preliminary GDP number that will be released from the US. Investors overlooked report that foreign direct investment (FDI) from nations widely regarded as tax havens such as Cayman Islands and Hong Kong jumped in 2017-18, even as overall India-bound investments showed a slower rise, year-on-year (Y-o-Y). From the Cayman Islands, inflows rose in a single year from a low $71.03 million to a whopping $1.23 billion. On the global front, dollar trimmed its losses against the yen on Friday after the Bank of Japan conducted a special government bond-buying operation to arrest a rise in long-term yields. Finally, the rupee ended at 68.66, 1 paise weaker from its previous close of 68.65 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net buyers in equity segment, while they were net sellers in debt segment. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9752.90 crore against gross selling of Rs 6977.23 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 411.80 crore with gross sales of Rs 1324.85 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 1.67 crore against gross selling of Rs 5.85 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Friday, as traders remained concern on account of mixed batch of earnings news from big-name companies. Investors failed to get any relief with report from the Commerce Department showing a significant acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter. Asian markets are trading mostly in red with focus shifting to the Bank of Japan and other central banks that are holding meetings this week. Indian equity markets hit fresh record highs on Friday, with encouraging first-quarter earnings and positive cues from global markets helping underpin investors' sentiment. Today, markets are likely to make negative start amid feeble global cues. Traders may remain on sidelines ahead of Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) which is slated to meet during July 30 to August 1 for the third bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2018-2019. Traders may remain concern on private report that the RBI's rate-setting panel will go for a status quo on key policy rates at the August monetary policy review. The report acknowledged that the risks on inflation still persist, but added that the rise in food prices (in June and July) has been lower than the historical trend. However, traders may get some support later in the day with Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant's statement that the country needs to improve its human development index (HDI) to achieve a growth of around 10 per cent. Traders may also get some support with report that foreign investors have put in over Rs 1,800 crore in the Indian equity markets so far in July after pulling out massive funds in the preceding month. The latest inflow comes after such investors had taken out more than Rs 20,000 crore from the stock market during April-June. Stocks of cement, ACs and televisions manufacturer will be in focus after Union Minister Arun Jaitley exuded confidence that GST rates on cement, ACs and televisions will be cut as tax revenues increase, and only luxury and sin goods will attract the highest slab of 28 per cent.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Bharti Airtel has reported a fall of 73.51% in its consolidated net profit at Rs 97.30 crore for Q1FY19 as compared to Rs 367.30 crore for Q1FY18. 
• Lupin has launched Desoximetasone Topical Spray, 0.25%, having received an approval from the USFDA earlier.  
• ITC has reported 10.08% rise in its net profit at Rs 2,818.68 crore for Q1FY19 as compared to Rs 2,560.50 crore for Q1FY18. 
• Adani Ports has signed a long term agreement with GAIL India to provide LNG regasification services on a use or pay basis, at its upcoming LNG import terminal at Dhamra in the state of Odisha.