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Indian markets ended higher on Friday for the second day, helped by buying in index major Reliance Industries, along with fresh foreign fund inflows. Today, markets are likely to get gap-up opening amid strong global cues and steady foreign inflows. Traders will be taking encouragement as Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal said that foreign trade would become a truly defining feature that would help India become a $30 trillion economy in the Amrit Kaal. Some support will also come with a private report that India is expected to surpass its tax collection goal by more than Rs 2 lakh crore ($24.3 billion) in the current fiscal year. Traders may take note of report that after withdrawing over Rs 7,600 crore last month, foreign investors have slowed down the pace of equity selling in India in October so far, as they pulled out Rs 1,586 crore from capital markets. Also, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,568.75 crore on 28 October, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. However, traders may be concerned as data released by Reserve Bank of India showed India's foreign exchange (forex) reserves declined $3.8 billion to $524.5 billion for the week ending October 21. Reserves are at their lowest levels since July 2020. Since last year, reserves have declined by $115 billion. Sugar stocks will be in focus as the government extended restrictions on sugar exports till October 31 next year, a move aimed at increasing availability of the commodity in the domestic market. Earlier, the restrictions were imposed till October 31 this year. Restriction on export of sugar (raw, refined, and white sugar) is extended beyond October 31, 2022 till October 31, 2023, or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Other conditions will remain unchanged. There will be some reaction in oil & gas industry stocks as the government data showed India's crude oil imports in September fell to 16.46 million tonnes, down 6.7% from a month ago. Data from the website of the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell showed on a yearly basis, imports dipped by 5.8%. Besides, investors await more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues, with Bharti Airtel, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Steel due to post their earnings later in the day. Meanwhile, DCX Systems will float its maiden IPO on October 31. The issue will remain open for subscription till November 02 (Wednesday). The price band for the offer has been fixed between Rs 197-207 per equity share of face value Rs 2 each. The company plans to raise Rs 500 crore through this public issue.

The US markets closed higher on Friday amid hopes of slower rate hikes and healthy corporate earnings. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday as markets look ahead to the US Fed meeting later this week.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks managed to end in green on Friday, helped by buying in index major Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries and NTPC. Key gauges made positive start and stayed in green for most part of the day, as buying in FIIs aided domestic sentiments. As per provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 2,818.40 crore on October 27. Traders took some support with a private report that Indian economy’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the pace of the economy is better as compared to global peers despite headwinds such as high inflation, monetary policy tightening, rising interest rate, and the Russia-Ukraine war. Some support also came with another private report that India can accelerate green investments to $12.1 trillion by 2050 and reap a host of benefits. However, key gauges erased most of their gains in late afternoon deals, as some concern came with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stating that the strong recovery in South Asia is expected to take a breather with India's economy expanding at 6.8% in FY23, revised down by 1.4 percentage points since the April 2022 World Economic Outlook, due to a weaker-than-expected recovery in the second quarter and subdued external demand. But, markets recovered to settle in green, taking support from Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that he and his British counterpart agreed on “the importance of early conclusion of a comprehensive and balanced” free trade agreement (FTA). Meanwhile, Investors awaited the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting to be held on November 3. The Reserve Bank of India said it would hold a special meeting of its rate-setting committee to prepare a report for the government on why it failed to keep retail inflation below the target of 6 percent for three consecutive quarters since January. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 203.01 points or 0.34% to 59,959.85 and the CNX Nifty was up by 49.85 points or 0.28% to 17,786.80.

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