Here's how the markets look today

The Bulls are flexing their muscles and pawing the ground as momentum builds up in equity markets across the globe.

The Nifty may gain further traction on Friday as a global bounce in equities on the back of strong economic data strengthens bulls and pushes bears to the background.

A fresh month begins in the futures and options space aiding traders to take long positions on futures contracts. The SGX Nifty is signalling a 121-point gap up for Nifty futures at the start of trade on Friday as major Asian markets surge thanks to a strong overnight close on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei is back above the 200-day moving average.

Two major indices on Wall Street posted the best 2-day gains in more than 5 years. The Dow Index's 2-day rise was the best since December 2008 and the S&P 500's 2-day 6.4 percent surge was the highest since 2009. Overall US indices rose 2.3-2.5 percent on the back of better-than-expected GDP expansion and falling Jobless claims. US markets had a turnover of 10 billion shares, 44 percent higher than their 3-month average, pointing to strong investor participation.

Major indices in Europe posted higher gains, totalling 3.2-3.6 percent.

Major commodity indexes showed no traction. Crude Oil futures inched up 1.1 percent as they continued to trade near 6-1/2 year lows. Modest buying was seen in Gold and Silver futures.

Meanwhile, the Nifty Index jumped 157 points to 7,949 points on Friday. Support is pictured in the 7,770-7,576-point band while resistance is seen at 8,200-400. The Bank Nifty added 297 points to close at 17,214 as a strong bout of short covering forced traders to square up deals.

The Cash markets presented a mixed picture. Foreign Institutional Investors were net sellers for the 8th day. They sold a net 3,347 crore rupees worth of local shares versus 2,577 crore rupees worth of net purchases made by domestic institutional investors.

Bears showed signs of stepping back in the derivatives space. Traders were net buyers of 1,385 crore rupees for Index Futures; Net purchases of 10 crore rupees for Stock Futures; Net buys of 276 crore rupees for Index options and net buys of 22 crore rupees for Stock Options.

Image credit: Indiatimes