Indian equity benchmarks continued reeling under selling pressure for the sixth consecutive session on Thursday as geopolitical tensions, a rise in US bond yields, and a sell-off in blue-chip stocks made investors jittery. After the gap-down start, the markets gradually drifted lower as the day progressed and finally settled around the day's lows as traders got anxious with provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showing that foreign institutional investors sold shares worth Rs 4,236.60 crore on October 25. Sentiments remained down-beat with private report stating that Indian consumer spending during this year's festival season will be slightly better than in 2022, but probably not enough to ramp up the speed of what is already the world's fastest-growing major economy. Investors overlooked report that investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes rose over a six-year high at Rs 1.33 lakh crore at September-end, making it the seventh consecutive monthly increase, on the back of robust macroeconomic fundamentals. Traders also paid no heed towards reports that government think tank NITI Aayog initiated a study to develop a comprehensive action plan to bridge India's trade deficit with China over time and align trading strategies with emerging geopolitical situation and potential risks to safeguard supply chains. The Aayog has invited bids from consultants to lead the two studies in areas of reducing trade gap with China and boosting local manufacturing. Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet has approved a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) between India and Japan on a Semiconductor Supply Chain Partnership. The memorandum of cooperation between the two countries was signed in July. Japan has become the second Quad partner after the US to sign an agreement with India for the joint development of the semiconductor ecosystem and maintain the resilience of its global supply chain. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 900.91 points or 1.41% to 63,148.15 and the CNX Nifty was down by 264.90 points or 1.39% to 18,857.25.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday, magnifying their previous session's losses. A negative reaction to quarterly results from Meta Platforms (META) weigh on the Nasdaq, with the Facebook parent plunging by 3.7 percent despite reporting third quarter results that exceeded street estimates on the top and bottom lines. The weakness on markets also came despite the release of a slew of largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing GDP soared by more than expected in the third quarter of 2023. The Commerce Department said GDP spiked by 4.9 percent in the third quarter after jumping by 2.1 percent in the second quarter. Street had expected GDP to surge by 4.2 percent. The stronger than expected GDP growth partly reflected a surge in consumer spending, which soared by 4.0 percent in the third quarter after climbing by 0.8 percent in the second quarter. The Commerce Department also released a report showing new orders for U.S. manufactured durable goods spiked by much more than expected in the month of September. The report said durable goods orders soared by 4.7 percent in September following a revised 0.1 percent dip in August. On the sectoral front, Computer hardware stocks saw considerable weakness on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index tumbling by 2.5 percent to a nearly five-month closing low. Shares of Western Digital (WDC) moved sharply lower after a report from the Nikkei newspaper said the company and Japan's Kioxia Holdings have called off merger talks.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower with cut of over two percent on Thursday as concerns of a wider Middle East conflict eased while the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer, showed signs of weakening demand. Further, recent data showing a surge in U.S. crude inventories, and concerns about interest rates too weighed on oil prices. Benchmark crude oil futures for December delivery fell $2.18 or 2.6 percent to settle at $83.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery dropped $2.20 or 2.44 percent to settle at $87.93 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Rupee settled lower against dollar on Thursday dragged down by massive selling in equity markets and strengthening American currency overseas. Traders were worried amid rising US bond yield that may result in more fund outflows from India. Investors overlooked report that investment in the Indian capital markets through participatory notes rose over a six-year high at Rs 1.33 lakh crore at September-end, making it the seventh consecutive monthly increase, on the back of robust macroeconomic fundamentals. On the global front, the dollar was buoyant on Thursday, hovering at a near three-week high as Treasury yields rose and appetite for riskier currencies dimmed, while the yen briefly surged after breaching 150.50 per dollar, keeping traders jittery about intervention. Finally, the rupee ended at 83.25 (Provisional), weaker by 8 paise from its previous close of 83.17 on Wednesday.

The FIIs as per Thursday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 9127.75 crore against gross selling of Rs 13152.96 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 241.30 crore with gross sales of Rs 265.69 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 8.97 crore against gross selling of Rs 26.10 crore.

The US markets ended lower on Thursday as investors weighed disappointing tech earnings against upbeat GDP data. Asian markets are trading in green on Friday as the dollar steadied after hitting a three-week high in the previous session on robust U.S. GDP data. Indian markets ended in red on Thursday as tensions in West Asia, coupled with sticky US Treasury yields at around 5 per cent, triggered risk-off sentiment among investors. Today, benchmark indices are likely to get flat-to-positive start tracking gains in Asian counterparts. Also, some support will come after crude prices fell more than $2 a barrel overnight amid easing Middle East fears. Israel has heeded to US' request of delaying its Gaza invasion to make time to negotiate hostage releases and keep humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza. Traders may take encouragement 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. Investors will be eying the upcoming the Reserve Bank of India's meeting of senior officials from some banks likely to be held on Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 to discuss the prevailing liquidity conditions in the banking system. Besides, the Ministry of Finance said 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. However, foreign fund outflows likely to dent sentiments. According to the provisional data available on the NSE, foreign institutional investors (FII) offloaded shares worth net Rs 7,702.53 crore on October 26, 2023. Some cautiousness may come with 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. Investors will keep close eye on earnings results for more directional cues with most of the companies to report their quarterly results. Reliance Industries, Maruti Suzuki India, Bajaj Finserv, SBI Life Insurance, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories are among others to report quarterly numbers today.

Support and Resistance: NSE (Nifty) and BSE (Sensex)

Nifty Top volumes

• NTPC has signed an agreement with Engineers India to work jointly on projects like carbon capture utilization and storage, green fuel among others. 
• Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Jio has entered into a partnership with Plume to provide market-leading smart home and small business services to its subscribers across India.   
• Infosys has signed a five-year collaboration with automotive marquee smart Europe GmbH to refine its D2C business model in Europe. 
• Hero MotoCorp has made an investment of Rs 15 crore by way of Rights issue in its subsidiary company, HMC MM Auto.