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Indian markets finished more than one percent higher on Friday led by across-the-board buying. Today, start of new week is likely to be in red tracking sell-off in the global markets. Traders will be concerned as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 1,011.23 crore on October 14, according to the provisional data available on the NSE. However, some respite may come later in the day as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Indian economy will stay on course despite global headwinds and is projected to grow at seven per cent in fiscal 2022-23, and attributed this to the conducive domestic policy environment and focus on key structural reforms. She also reiterated that the inflation rate, which is hovering over 7 per cent in India, is at a manageable level compared to where some other countries are at present. Some suprot may also come with a private report that India’s focus on reforms and economic growth will result in foreign direct investment (FDI) of $475 billion in the next five years as most multinational companies (MNCs) see India as an attractive investment destination for their global expansion. Traders may take note of the data released by the commerce ministry showing that the country's exports rose by 4.82% to $35.45 billion in September, even as the trade deficit widened to $25.71 billion. The trade deficit in September 2021 was $22.47 billion. Also, Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal said India will achieve the target for exports of $2 trillion by 2030 despite global headwinds. Moreover, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) weekly statistical supplement showed that India's foreign exchange reserves rose to $532.87 billion in the week through October 7. The country's reserves rose by $204 million from the previous week, the first increase since the week ended July 29. Power industry stocks will be in focus with a private report that aggregate losses of power distribution utilities or discoms increased by 66 per cent to Rs 50,281 crore in 2020-21 as compared to the previous year. There will be some reaction in oil industry stocks as Union Petroleum and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Indian petroleum industry is at the cusp of opportunity and will be able to produce 25 per cent of its crude oil demand by 2030. Coal industry stocks will be in limelight as Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi said that the country will stop import of thermal coal by 2024-25. The minister expressed his concern that that the country has to import coal despite having adequate domestic resource of the fuel. Meanwhile, Electronics Mart will make its debut on the bourses today. Besides, investors awaited more of financial results from India Inc for domestic cues.

The US markets ended lower on Friday, following the short covering in the previous session, as worsening inflation expectations kept intact worries that the Fed's aggressive rate hike path could trigger a recession. Asian markets are trading in red on Monday as recession fears weigh in over expectations of continued tighten monetary policies around the world.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended higher with gains over a percent on Friday led by gains in IT, Banking and TECK stocks amid positive cues in the global market. Key gauges made a gap up start and stayed in green for whole day, as traders took some support from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement that India is setting the global benchmarks on the digital front and that there is a sense of confidence in the country that it will be able to face geopolitical and economic uncertainties and still perform. Some support also came with S&P Global Ratings’ statement that growth in large Asia Pacific economies like China, India and Indonesia will be less affected as their economies are more domestically oriented. Traders took a note of World Bank President David Malpass’ statement that India has taken good advantage of digitisation to create social protection programmes that reach the poor, noting that the country can do a lot more on the administrative side to create efficiencies. Sentiments remained up-beat in afternoon deals, after India’s inflation based on wholesale price index (WPI) eased further to 10.7% in the month of September 2022 as against 12.41% in August 2022. But, September is the 18th consecutive month of double-digit WPI inflation, primarily contributed by rise in prices of mineral oils, food articles, crude petroleum & natural gas, chemicals & chemical products, basic metals, electricity, textiles etc. as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. However, key gauges trimmed some gains in late afternoon deals, as some concern came with provisional data available on the NSE showed that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,636.43 crore on October 13. Some concern also came as India failed to unseat the UK and missed being the fifth-largest economy by $10 billion in 2021-22. It’ll have to wait another year before it gets that coveted spot in 2022-23, overtaking the UK by $27 billion. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 684.64 points or 1.20% to 57,919.97 and the CNX Nifty was up by 171.35 points or 1.01% to 17,185.70.

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