Indian equity markets are likely to make a positive start on Friday, tracking upbeat global cues and encouraging domestic economic data. However, gains may remain capped as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued their selling spree, offloading equities worth Rs 5,285.37 crore on Thursday.
Some of the key factors to be watched:
India's exports jump 23% in September: Government data showed that healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products, electronic goods and chemicals helped India's merchandise exports rise 23.04 per cent in September, while the trade deficit narrowed to $30.21 billion year-on-year due to a dip in imports of precious metals.
India's current account deficit narrowed to $5.2 billion in August: RBI data showed that India's current account deficit narrowed to $5.2 billion in August from $6.1 billion a year ago, aided by a lower merchandise trade deficit and higher surpluses in services trade.
WPI inflation likely to breach 12%, retail 6% in October: India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said India's wholesale and retail inflation could accelerate to over 12 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively, in October due to adverse base effect, weather, and energy price shock.
Net direct tax mop-up grows 13% to Rs 13.38 lakh crore till October 14: Government data showed that Net direct tax collection has increased 13.21 per cent to about Rs 13.38 lakh crore so far this financial year, reaching about 50 per cent of the full year budget target
India’s unemployment rate stable at 5% in September: National Statistics Office's (NSO) Periodic Labour Force Survey showed that the overall Unemployment Rate (UR) among persons aged 15 years and above remained steady at 5 per cent compared with August 2026. The UR was 5.2 per cent in September 2025.
On the global front: The US markets ended in green on Thursday, amid strong gains by Nike (NKE), Salesforce (CRM) and Home Depot (HD). Asian markets were trading mostly higher on Friday following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight.
Back home, Indian equity benchmarks ended sharply higher on Thursday as market participants turned optimistic after a decline in crude oil prices, which helped ease worries over rising input costs and inflation, leading to broad buying in frontline stocks. The rupee’s continued recovery against the US dollar, aided by RBI measures, further lent support to domestic equities. Finally, the BSE Sensex rose 1533.72 points or 2.11% to 74,315.61 and the CNX Nifty was up by 374.65 points or 1.66% to 22,997.35.
Some of the important factors in trade:
India-US trade deal negotiations heading towards ‘landing point’: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that negotiations on the India-US trade deal were heading towards a ‘landing point’, with officials from both countries working to iron out outstanding issues.
RBI measures aim to ensure orderly forex market movement, curb speculation: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that recent RBI measures, including the creation of a special dollar window for oil marketing companies (OMCs), aim to ensure orderly movements in the foreign exchange market and curb undue speculative activity.
India-China trade gap widens further in first nine months of 2026: India's trade imbalance with China continued to deepen, with the deficit widening 20.7 per cent year-on-year to $105.93 billion in the first nine months of this year (January-September 2026), crossing the $100 billion threshold.
