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Indian markets ended Monday's session modestly higher as Middle East tensions eased. Today, markets are likely to get cautious start amid mixed cues from Asian counterparts. Also, Middle East tensions persisted, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting calls for a ceasefire in the war against Hamas. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 1,761.86 crore on October 30, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed. Traders may take note of a private report that India and the UK don’t expect a free trade agreement to be announced until after state elections in the South Asian nation are completed in December. There are still some differences around whether taxation will be included in a proposed investment protection pact, as well as the UK’s demand that tariffs be cut on electric vehicle exports to India. However, downside may remain capped with sharp fall in crude oil prices overnight. Besides, as per a report, India will soon identify about a dozen sectors in which the country can emerge as a global manufacturing hub. The Niti Aayog is undertaking an exercise to identify these sectors and their export potential and recommend strategies accordingly. There will be some reaction in insurance industry related stocks with report that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said that insurance companies must provide their customers details on the basic features of the policy from 1 January 2024. Meanwhile, shares of Bharti Airtel, Gail, Indiabulls Realestate, IOC, Jindal Steel, Larsen & Toubro, MRPL, RITES, Star Health, Tata Consumer Products and VGuard will be in focus ahead of results today. In primary market, Honasa Consumer IPO, the parent company of Mamaearth, to open for subscription today in the price band of Rs 308 - 324 per share.

The US markets ended higher on Monday as crude oil prices dipped and yen rose to a two-week high versus dollar after reports suggested that the Bank of Japan was considering tweaking its yield curve control policy. Asian markets are trading mixed on Tuesday ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy outcome.

Back home, Indian equity benchmarks erased initial losses and rebounded sharply to end the trading session on a positive note on Monday, led by gains in Realty, Telecom and Energy stocks. The markets started the week on a tepid note, as traders were anxious with data showing that Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have pulled out over Rs 20,300 crore from Indian equities this month so far, primarily due to a sharp surge in the US treasury yield. Some concern also came as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that India’s forex reserves declined by $2.36 billion to $583.53 billion during the week ended October 20. However, key indices soon bounced back and stayed in positive territory thereafter as traders took support with Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s statement that India's G20 Presidency has opened doors for global investment and sustainable economic growth. He said under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, significant developments were made with world leaders. Sentiments remained up-beat in late afternoon deals, as India and the UK have reviewed the progress of negotiations of the proposed free trade agreement (FTA), talks for which have reached the final stage. The progress was reviewed by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade Kemi Badenoch in Osaka, Japan.’ Some optimism also came with Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar’s statement that India will go past Japan and Germany to become the third largest economy in the world by 2030. The vice president said India was among the 'Fragile Five' two decades back, but it has now become the fifth-largest economy in the world. Traders overlooked S&P Global’s statement that India's public finances are unlikely to improve materially in the next two or three years compared to where they stood before the coronavirus outbreak. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 329.85 points or 0.52% to 64,112.65 and the CNX Nifty was up by 93.65 points or 0.49% to 19,140.90.

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