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Indian equity markets are likely to make negative start on Monday as IT stocks may be in focus after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order slapping an additional fee on H-1B visa holders, potentially impacting profitability and prompting companies to rethink hiring strategies. However, some support may come amid net buying from foreign institutional investors on Friday.

Some of the key factors to be watched:

India's forex reserves jump $4.69 billion to $702.96 billion: The Reserve Bank of India has said that India's forex reserves jumped $4.698 billion to $702.966 billion for the week ended September 12, 2025.

Retail inflation for farm workers up at 1.07% in August: Labour ministry said that retail inflation for farm and rural workers increased to 1.07 per cent and 1.26 per cent in August from 0.77 per cent and 1.01 per cent, respectively, in July.

India, New Zealand to hold next round of trade talks in October: The commerce ministry said that India and New Zealand will hold the next round of negotiations for the proposed trade pact on October 13 to 14.

Goyal to visit US for trade talks on September 22: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead an official delegation to the US for trade talks on September 22, 2025. He said that the delegation plans to hold talks with US team to take forward discussions with a view to achieve early conclusion of a mutually beneficial trade agreement.

UAE firms keen to invest in Indian infra, banking, startups, logistics sectors: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that the UAE companies are looking at multiple sectors, such as infrastructure, data centres, banking, startups and logistics, in India to increase their investments.

On the global front: The US markets ended in green on Friday, amid continued optimism over Federal Reserve’s rate cut after it signalled two more rate cuts this year. Asian markets are trading mostly in green on Monday after Trump said he would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

Back home, snapping three-day gaining streak, Indian equity benchmarks ended lower on Friday due to profit-taking in blue-chip shares HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank and Trent. Traders overlooked the exchange data showing that Foreign Institutional Investors bought equities worth Rs 366.69 crore on a net basis on Thursday. Finally, the BSE Sensex fell 387.73 points or 0.47% to 82,626.23 and the CNX Nifty was down by 96.55 points or 0.38% to 25,327.05.

Some of the important factors in trade:

Net direct tax collection grows 9.18% till September 17 this fiscal: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in its latest data has showed that net direct tax collection grew 9.18 per cent to over Rs 10.82 lakh crore till September 17 in this fiscal (FY26), due to higher advance tax mop-up from corporates and slower refunds. 

India, UAE target to double non-oil, non-precious metal trade to $100 billion in next 3-4 years: India and the UAE have set a target to double bilateral trade in non-oil and non-precious metal to $100 billion over the next 3-4 years.

Fiscal discipline must for promoting economic growth, prosperity: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has emphasized on the importance of fiscal discipline for promoting economic growth and prosperity, during the 35th Conference of the State Finance Secretaries.

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