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.

The US markets ended mostly in red on Friday after moving sharply lower over the two previous sessions. While the Dow and the S&P 500 extended the recent downward move, the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to regain some ground. The rebound by the Nasdaq partly reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN), with the online retail giant spiking by 6.8 percent after reporting better than expected third quarter results. Semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) also soared by 9.3 percent after reporting third quarter results that exceeded street estimates and providing upbeat guidance. However, a steep drop by shares of Chevron (CVX) weighed on the Dow, as the energy giant plunged by 6.7 percent after reporting third quarter earnings that missed street estimates. On the sectoral front, Pharmaceutical stocks showed a substantial move to the downside, dragging the NYSE Arca Pharmaceutical Index down by 3.2 percent to its lowest closing level in over three months. On the economic data front, revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by slightly less than previously estimated in the month of October. The report said the consumer sentiment index for October was upwardly revised to 63.8 from the preliminary estimate of 63.0. The upward revision surprised participants, who had expected the reading to be unrevised, although the index is still down sharply from 67.9 in September. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released its monthly report on personal income and spending, which includes readings on inflation said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve. The Commerce Department said its reading on consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in September, matching the increase in August. Street had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher with gains of over two percent on Friday as tensions in the Middle East escalated with Israeli ground forces expanding operations in Gaza. With the war intensifying, it is feared tensions could spread into a wider conflict and disrupt global crude supplies. Further, crude oil prices rose after US airstrikes targeted Iranian targets in Syria. The attack by the US was in response to a flurry of recent rocket and drone assaults against American soldiers in Iraq and Syria. Benchmark crude oil futures for December delivery rose $2.33 or 2.33 percent to settle at $85.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery surged $2.55 or 2.9 percent to settle at $90.48 a barrel on London's Intercontinental Exchange.

Rupee ended flat on Friday and snapped its three-day downward move amid positive domestic equities. Sentiments were upbeat, as expressing optimism over India's economic growth, India's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant has said that the country is poised to become a $5 trillion economy. He added that the government has pushed the limit on infrastructure. On the global front, dollar rose on Friday and is set for a third monthly gain after solid U.S. growth figures argued for interest rates to remain high for longer, while the yen struggled around the 150 level ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting next week. Besides, sterling was headed for weekly declines against the dollar and the euro on Friday after struggling amid a nervous tone in markets that has boosted the dollar, as eyes start to turn to the Bank of England's meeting next week. Finally, the rupee ended flat with its previous close of 83.13 on Thursday.

The FIIs as per Friday's data were net sellers in both equity and debt segments. In equity segment, the gross buying was of Rs 11829.51 crore against gross selling of Rs 18225.91 crore, while in the debt segment, the gross purchase was of Rs 362.88 crore with gross sales of Rs 559.36 crore. Besides, in the hybrid segment, the gross buying was of Rs 5.52 crore against gross selling of Rs 43.82 crore.

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. 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.

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

Nifty Top volumes

• Reliance Industries' telecom arm -- Jio has successfully demonstrated India's first satellite-based giga fiber service to provide high speed broadband services to previously inaccessible geographies within India. 
• Dr. Reddy's Laboratories has reported 33.03% rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1482.20 crore for Q2FY24 as compared to Rs 1114.20 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.
• Bajaj Finserv's insurance subsidiary -- Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company has launched its Sarvatra Bima initiative. 
• Cipla has reported 44.89% rise in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1155.37 crore for Q2FY24 as compared to Rs 797.41 crore for the same quarter in the previous year.