NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on October 29

The Indian equity markets are set to open higher on Wednesday, October 29, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 83 points or 0.32% to 26,173 amid strong cues from other Asian markets. The benchmarks ended lower on Tuesday amid volatility due to monthly expiry of index and stock futures and option contracts. The SENSEX ended 151 points lower at 84,628 and NIFTY50 index declined 30 points to settle at 25,936.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher on optimism US-Japan trade ties and expectations of another Federal Reserve rate cut.

The gains came after US President Donald Trump and Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi signed a new rare earths framework on Tuesday. Markets also grew more confident that the Fed would deliver a second straight 25 basis point cut to support slowing growth.

Trump’s visit marked his first meeting with Takaichi, who assumed office earlier this month. He also met Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace, CNBC reported.

Japan's Nikkei rose over 2% to hit a record high of 51,310, South Korea's KOSPI advanced 1.32%, China's Shanghai Composite gained 0.2% and Taiwan Weighted rose 1.21%.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US stocks surged to yet another record highs as gold prices dropped and hopes of Fed rate cut strengthened.

The S&P500 index rose 0.23%, tech heavy Nasdaq climbed 0.8% and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.34%.

The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday will kick off a string of policy announcements this week by global central banks, including in Japan, Canada and Europe.

The Fed is widely expected to cut interest rates at the meeting, with markets pricing in a 99.9% chance for a rate cut of 25 basis points, according to CME's FedWatch Tool, according to a report by Reuters.

Expectations for a lower path of interest rates from the central bank, along with recent signs of easing trade tensions between the US and China, have helped to boost the markets' risk appetite, sending stocks higher and keeping the 10-year US Treasury yield moored near multi-month lows, Reuters report added.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth ₹10,339.80 crore on Tuesday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹1,081.55 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹8,512 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,46,008 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

Under the proposed framework, SEBI plans to eliminate the additional 5 basis points (bps) that asset management companies (AMCs) were previously allowed to charge across mutual fund schemes.

Hindustan Aeronautics: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Public Joint Stock Company United Aircraft Corporation (PJSC-UAC) of Russia signed an MoU for the production of civil commuter aircraft SJ-100 in Moscow, Russia, on October 27, 2025. Prabhat Ranjan, HAL, and Oleg Bogomolov, PJSC UAC, Russia, signed the MoU in the presence of Dr D. K. Sunil, CMD, HAL, and Vadim Badeka, Director General, PJSC UAC.

SJ-100is a twin-engine, narrow-body aircraft. As of date, more than 200 aircraft have been produced and are being operated by more than 16 commercial airline operators. SJ-100 will be the game changer for short-haul connectivity under the UDAN Scheme in India. Under this arrangement, HAL will have the right to manufacture SJ-100 aircraft for domestic customers.

The Bengaluru-headquartered IT firm had logged a profit of ₹49.5 crore in the year-ago period, according to a regulatory filing.

The company's revenue for operations rose 9.95% to ₹573.57 crore, as against ₹521.64 crore logged a year ago.

ICRA had posted a net profit of ₹37.1 crore in the July-September period last year.

Consolidated revenue from operations increased 8.3% to ₹136.6 crore for the second quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, compared to ₹126.1 crore a year earlier.

The profit after tax (PAT) for the half year ended September 2025 increased 24.4% to ₹90.8 crore from ₹73.0 crore seen in the corresponding previous year.

In a regulatory filing, the company said the LoA was issued on October 27, and Purvah has duly acknowledged its receipt and acceptance.

US-based Advent International, through its special purpose vehicle Jomei Investments Ltd, offloaded 2.66 crore shares each, or a 2.04% stake, in Aditya Birla Capital on the BSE and NSE through separate block deals.

The combined transaction was valued at around ₹1,638.56 crore, at an average price of ₹308 apiece on both the exchanges.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the board of the company, Jindal Steel said in an exchange filing.

Besides, the company on Tuesday posted over a 26% year-on-year fall in consolidated net profit to ₹635.08 crore in the September quarter on account of an increase in expenses.

The company had clocked a net profit of ₹860.47 crore in the July-September period of the preceding 2024-25 financial year, the Naveen Jindal Group entity said in an exchange filing.

However, the company's total income rose to ₹11,707.82 crore from ₹11,248.14 crore in the second quarter a year ago.

Trade setup

On the technical charts, as indicated in the previous day’s trade setup, the index continues to remain in a consolidation setup. The NIFTY50 formed a doji candlestick pattern on Tuesday, indicating indecisiveness of direction in the market. However, the 25,700 remains near-term support for the index, while 26,000 holds the new resistance.

On the options data front, the early buildup for the upcoming expiry indicates strong resistance of 26,000 with the highest open interest on the call side. Similarly, the 25,500 puts hold the highest open interest, indicating a strong support for the 04 November expiry.