Indian share markets edged higher in the afternoon session and finished the trading day on a firm note.

At the closing bell on Friday, the BSE Sensex stood higher by 124 points, while the NSE Nifty finished up by 42 points. The S&P BSE Mid Cap finished flat while & S&P BSE Small Cap finished down by 0.1%. Gains were largely seen in software stocks, oil & gas stocks and consumer durables stocks.

Let us now have a look at some of the major events that market participants will be tracking today.

Reliance Industries outperforms across segments

Reliance Industries hit a 9 year high of 1587 intra-day after a strong showing in the first quarter. Performance was robust across segments. Refining, the key segment of the company registered an 18% year on year growth. Petrochemical division also witnessed a 23% growth. The retail segment also had a strong quarter with a 74% growth year on year.

A surprise development was Reliance buying a 24.9% stake in Balaji Telefilms via an investment of Rs 4.13 billion. The move is aimed at sourcing content for its Jio platform. With its 125 million user base, Jio is expected to be the key growth driver for its future.

Wipro Zooms on Buyback Announcement

Wipro shares zoomed on Friday after the company announced a buyback worth Rs 110 billion. Wipro's board approved the proposal to buyback 343.75 million shares at Rs 320 each.

In terms of results, Wipro posted slightly better than expected growth numbers with revenues growing 0.3% sequentially. Wipro joins a list of IT companies including TCS, Infosys, Cognizant who have recently announced buybacks.

Euro Peaks to Two Year High After European Central Bank Chairman Statement

European Central Bank (ECB) Chairman Mario Draghi hinted a tightening monetary policy next year. The currency market responded with Euro nearing a two year high of US$ 1.16 to the dollar, its biggest gain since June 27.

The comments by the ECB chairman hints at steady global growth. Meanwhile, the dollar suffered on concerns about U.S President Donald Trump's inability to pass healthcare reform bills. The passage of this bill is crucial to finance his tax cut plans. The US dollar hit its lowest level since August on Thursday against the major six currencies.

Top Cues in Action Today

The BSE Telecom index is likely to be in the news today after Reliance Industries' AGM on Friday. One of the key announcements was the JioPhone launch scheduled for 15th August. Speaking at the AGM, Mukesh Ambani said the phone will be effectively free of cost.

Reliance will collect a refundable security deposit of Rs 1,500 which will be refundable after three years of service.

Following the announcement, telecom stocks were under pressure. Bharti Airtel (down 2.1%), Idea Cellular (down 3.6%) and Reliance Communications (down 0.4%) all slumped on Friday.

Airlines stocks will be in focus with Interglobe Aviation (Indigo) share price after it was reported that the airlines have picked banks to work on an institutional share sale.

As per an article in The Livemint, Interglobe is planning the sale to help cut its owners' stake to achieve the minimum public shareholding of 25%. To meet requirements, the company or its controlling shareholders must sell a 10.85% stake, worth about Rs 49 billion (US$761 million) based on the current share price.

IndiGo this year surprised investors by announcing plans to launch flights on regional domestic routes from November, and expressing its interest in bidding for Air India Ltd to launch low-cost international operations.