Indian shares look set to open higher on Monday, with signs of improving auto sales, encouraging economic data and better-than-expected earnings from ICICI Bank likely to help underpin investor sentiment.
Two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp reported its highest ever monthly sales in October and India's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported a 19 percent surge in its October wholesale volumes, an indication that economic recovery is gathering steam following the reopening of the economy after lockdown.
India's foreign exchange reserves swelled by $5.412 billion to touch an all-time high of $560.532 billion during the week ended 23 October mainly on account of an increase in foreign currency assets, RBI data showed.
Private sector lender ICICI Bank reported its highest quarterly profit ever and said that it expects growth to be normal from the next financial year.
Asian markets remain broadly higher this morning after data showed China's manufacturing activity grew in October.
The upside, however, remained capped ahead of Tuesday's hotly contested U.S presidential election and Thursday's FOMC meeting.
Gold fell while the dollar ticked higher amid a deteriorating Covid-19 situation across much of the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Oil prices fell more than 3 percent in Asian trade amid rising supplies from Libya and Iraq.
U.S. stocks fell on Friday as uncertainty loomed large over the presidential election, big tech companies reported mixed earnings and the U.S. broke its single-day record for new coronavirus infections.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 percent to end at a three-month closing low, while the S&P 500 lost 1.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined as much as 2.5 percent to reach their lowest closing levels in over a month.
European stocks ended a choppy session mixed on Friday after data showed Euro zone GDP jumped by more than expected in the third quarter.
The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.2 percent. The German DAX eased 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 0.1 percent, while France's CAC 40 index rose half a percent.
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