NIFTY50, SENSEX on Muhurat session: US market cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open

The Indian equity markets are set to open higher on Tuesday's special Muhurat trading session to mark the festival of Diwali as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 90 points or 0.35% to trade above psychologically important level of 26,000 for first time in over a year amid strong cues from other Asian markets.

The Indian equity benchmarks ended at fresh 52-week highs on Monday as better than expected second quarter earnings boosted investor confidences towards equities.

Asian markets

Most of the Asian markets were trading higher on expectations of easing trade tensions between US and China. Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 0.86%, Singapore's Straits Times gained 1.29% and Japan's Nikkei rose 0.15%.

Asian markets are finding fresh momentum after the S&P 500 logged its biggest two-day gain since June on Monday, with about 85% of companies beating profit estimates so far. Strong third-quarter earnings helped temper worries over the US government shutdown, while hopes of progress in US-China trade talks lifted sentiment. President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to follow through on a tariff on a tariff hike on Chinese goods “if there isn’t a deal” by Nov. 1, but said he plans to meet President Xi Jinping next week, news agency Bloomberg reported.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US stocks surged on Monday lifted by gains in Apple shares over demand for its latest iPhone design. It was the strongest force lifting the S&P 500 and set its own record high.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.1% and pulled within 0.3% of its all-time high set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 515 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.4%.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹790 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹2,485 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹7,362 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,47,158 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to Watch

According to the latest investor's presentation, Sobha Ltd will launch 13 projects across Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Chennai, Calicut, Thrissur, and Trivandrum.

The company will launch a 16 million sq ft area in these 13 projects with an estimated sales value of nearly Rs 22,000 crore.

It would also launch two commercial projects with an area of 0.74 million square feet, taking the total forthcoming projects pipeline to 15 projects covering 16.7 million square feet of built-up area.

Besides, as per the latest data released by industry body SIAM, automobile exports from India rose 26% year-on-year (YoY) in the September quarter (Q2 FY26), driven by the highest-ever shipments of passenger vehicles, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers during the period.

Passenger vehicle exports grew 23% to 2,41,554 units in the September quarter as against 1,96,196 units in the same period of the last fiscal year.

Passenger car exports grew 20.5% to 1,25,513 units in the second quarter as against 1,04,196 units in the September quarter of last fiscal year.

The company is among the top five primary producers of silver globally and the country's biggest producer of the white metal.

"...I had predicted 46 dollars per troy ounce by January, but that has been outsmarted, and we have already crossed that milestone, and the predictions are it can be anywhere between 50 and 55 dollars per troy ounce by December, and it will remain steady at that for a considerable time," Misra told PTI in an interview.

Amidst global headwinds, he said India is an oasis for investments.

The minister added that today, India is emerging as a preferred investment destination.

Even in turbulent times, foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to flow robustly, the minister said.

"In the last few months itself, investors from all over the world have announced plans to invest over ₹50,000 crore in India's finance and banking sector," he said in a post on X.

This surge in FDI highlights the growing attractiveness of the Indian economy to global investors, he said.

FDI in India rose 15% to $18.62 billion during April-June this fiscal year, while the inflow from the US nearly tripled to $5.61 billion during the quarter, according to government data.