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Indian markets regained some lost ground on Friday as they snapped their six-day losing run, tracking positive cues from Asian counterparts. Today, markets are likely to start new week on a cautious note amid mixed global cues. During the week, focus will be on the US Federal Reserve's and Bank of Japan policies, as well as the geopolitical landscape at the beginning of November. Traders are also likely to keep a wary eye on the situation in the Middle East after Israel expanded military operations in Gaza over the weekend, raising concerns about global economic instability. Foreign fund outflows likely to dent domestic sentiments, 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, and the uncertain environment resulting from the Israel-Hamas conflict. Traders will be concerned as according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, India’s forex reserves declined by $2.36 billion to $583.53 billion during the week ended October 20. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had increased by $1.153 billion to $585.895 billion. Besides, 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. Traders may take note of a private report that the RBI may conduct an open market operation (OMO) auction in the first week of November as the banking system liquidity is expected to ease on the back of government spending and maturity of bonds. There will be some reaction in insurance industry stocks as a report noted that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has constituted a committee of 12 members to simplify insurance policy wording. Investors will keep eye on earnings of India Inc for more cues. Adani Green, Castrol, Daawat, DLF, TVS Motor, UPL, GMR Infra, and Blue Star, among others to report result later in the day. Meanwhile, Cello World IPO opens for subscription today in the price band of Rs 617 - Rs 648 per share.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Friday after data suggested that the inflation is likely to remain high but in line with expectations. Asian markets are trading mostly lower on Monday as Israel's push into Gaza stirred fears of a wider conflict ahead of central bank meetings in the United States, Britain and Japan, the latter of which might see a policy tightening.

Back home, mirroring positive moves in Asia, Indian equity benchmarks snapped their six-day losing run and ended with gains of over a percent on Friday. Better than expected quarterly financial results of corporates also boosted investor sentiments even as uncertainties persisted over the escalating tensions in the Middle East. Key gauges made a gap up opening and continued to inch higher throughout the day, as traders took support with India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant’s statement that the country is poised to become a $5 trillion economy. He added that the government has pushed the limit on infrastructure. Some encouragement also came as a report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) showed that replacing natural gas consumption with biogas and biomethane incrementally to 20 per cent by 2030 can help India cut liquefied natural gas import bills by $29 billion between financial years 2025 and 2030. Sentiments remained up-beat in late afternoon deals with the Ministry of Finance stating that the span of nine years, that is Assessment Year (AY) 2013-2014 and 2021-2022, saw an increase of 90 per cent in filing of Income Tax Returns (ITR) by individual tax payers. The number of ITRs filed increased from 3.36 crore in AY 2013-14 to 6.37 crore in AY 2021-22. Traders overlooked exchange data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 7,702.53 crore on Thursday. Traders also paid no heed towards a private report that fundraising through corporate bonds fell in October due to the rising cost of borrowing through these instruments. Meanwhile, China was the top exporter of finished steel to India in the first six months of the fiscal year that began in April. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 634.65 points or 1.01% to 63,782.80 and the CNX Nifty was up by 190.00 points or 1.01% to 19,047.25.

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