NIFTY50, SENSEX today: Wall Street cues, FII activity, key things to know before markets open on October 31

The Indian equity markets are set to open flat on Friday, October 31, as indicated by GIFT NIFTY futures. NIFTY futures at GIFT City in Ahmedabad rose 5 points to 26,047 amid firm cues from other Asian markets. The Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply lower on Thursday amid heightened volatility due to monthly expiry of SENSEX October futures & option contracts.

The SENSEX fell as much as 684 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 25,845 dragged down by HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance.

The SENSEX ended 593 points lower at 84,404 and NIFTY50 index declined 176 points to close at 25,878.

Asian markets

Asian markets were trading higher as investor sentiment got a boost from better-than-expected quarterly earnings from tech giants Apple and Amazon. Japan's Nikkei rose 1.2%, Singapore's Straits Times advanced 0.13%, South Korea's KOSPI gained 0.74% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.11%.

The investor sentiment also got a boost after US President Donald Trump that the United States and China have reached a trade deal following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling the talks “very successful” and suggesting a formal signing could happen soon.

Wall Street update

Overnight, US stocks ended lower on Thursday as market participants sifted through mixed developments on everything from the US-China trade war to profits for Big Tech behemoths.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.23%, S&P500 fell 1% and tech heavy Nasdaq dropped 1.57%.

Meta Platforms dropped 11% in after hours trading after the tech giant posted strong third-quarter results but warned that its expenses will be significantly higher in 2026 than this year.

Like its rivals, Meta Platforms Inc. has been on an artificial intelligence spending spree and said its costs will grow much faster next year, driven by infrastructure costs and employee compensation as it has hired AI experts at eye-popping compensation levels, news agency AP reported.

Microsoft declined 3% reported its quarterly sales grew 18% to $77.7 billion, beating Wall Street expectations while also surprising some investors with the huge amounts of money it is spending to expand its cloud computing infrastructure and meet demand for artificial intelligence tools.

Amazon cloud revenue rose at the fastest clip in nearly three years, helping the company forecast quarterly sales above estimates and driving its shares up 14% in after-market trading. The company projected increased capital spending next year, according to a report by Reuters.

Apple's financial results surpassed expectations on the back of strong demand for iPhone 17. Apple's net profit in the quarter ended September 2025 came in at $27.5 billion. The company posted quarterly revenue of $102.5 billion, up 8% year over year. Diluted earnings per share was $1.85, up 13% year over year on an adjusted basis.

FII/DII activity

Foreign institutional investors sold shares worth ₹3,078 crore on Thursday while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹2,469 crore, data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The FIIs have so far this month bought shares worth ₹17,163 crore and for the calendar year they have been net sellers to the tune of ₹1,37,357 crore, according to the data from National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).

Stocks to watch

The company's revenue from operations after deducting excise duty declined 3.4% annually to ₹18,021 crore in July-September period from ₹18,649 crore a year earlier.

ITC's revenue from cigarette business rose 7% annually to ₹8,723 crore and its revenue from other FMCG business gained 7% to ₹5,964 crore. Its total revenue from FMCG business advanced 6.77% to ₹14,687 crore.

Differentiated variants and premium cigarette segment registered strong growth during the quarter leveraging mainstream trademarks and innovation, ITC said in a press release.

FMCG business posted 8% year-on-year (YoY) increase in revenue excluding notebooks, despite facing operational challenges from excessive rains and the transition to the new GST regime.

In the corresponding period of the 2024-25 fiscal year (Q2FY25), the company had clocked a profit of ₹425 crore, it said in a regulatory filing.

During the quarter under review, the FMCG firm’s revenue from operations advanced 5.37% YoY to ₹3,191.32 crore, as against ₹3,028.59 crore in the September quarter of FY25.

At an operational level, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) stood at ₹588 crore in Q2FY25, marking a 6.4% YoY jump from ₹553 crore in the year-ago period.

The company, however, witnessed a 54.43% YoY increase in its revenue from operations to ₹5,561 crore in Q2 of FY26, as against ₹3,601 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

At an operational level, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) reported a loss of ₹798 crore during the quarter, compared to ₹554 crore in the September quarter of FY25.

It had clocked a net profit of ₹5,380.25 crore in the year-ago quarter, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company's total income was ₹45,262.10 crore against ₹45,197.77 crore a year ago.

Its expenses declined to ₹40,218.03 crore from ₹40,877.27 crore in the second quarter of FY25.

The board of the company also declared the first interim dividend of ₹27.75 per share for FY26.

The asset management company had earned a PAT of ₹360 crore in the year-ago period.

However, the company's revenue from operations rose 15% to ₹658 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal (FY26) from ₹571 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal, according to a stock exchange filing.

Operating profit of the bank also decreased to ₹1,310 crore in the current second quarter, as against ₹1,855 crore in the similar previous quarter.

BofA Securities through its affiliate BofA Securities Europe SA bought 2,95,600 shares of Reliance Industries, as per the block deal data available on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

BofA Securities Europe SA is a subsidiary of Bank of America Corporation.

The transaction was valued around ₹43.62 crore, and was executed at an average price of ₹1,475.50 apiece.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹540.3 crore in the second quarter of the last fiscal, Pidilite Industries, manufacturer of adhesives, sealants and construction chemicals, according to a regulatory filing.

Its consolidated revenue from operations in the second quarter stood at ₹3,554.44 crore against ₹3,234.91 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

The total expenses in the quarter under review stood at ₹2,816.94 crore compared to ₹2,565.71 crore a year ago, the company said.

IPO market update

Much talked about Lenskart's share sale via initial public offering will open for subscription today.

Eyewear retailer Lenskart Solutions on Thursday garnered a blockbuster response from anchor investors ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), receiving bids of around Rs 68,000 crore, sources said.

This is nearly 10 times the issue size of ₹7,278 crore, and 20 times the anchor book size of more than ₹3,200 crore.

The anchor book saw participation from around 70 marquee investors, including leading global institutions such as the Government of Singapore, Monetary Authority of Singapore, T Rowe Price, BlackRock, Fidelity, Nomura, and Goldman Sachs, according to a circular uploaded on BSE's website. Foreign institutional investors accounted for about 52% of the anchor book.

On the domestic front, major mutual funds such as SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential MF, HDFC MF, Kotak MF, and Aditya Birla Sun Life MF participated in the offering.