Indian shares are set for a mildly positive start on Monday, with GIFT Nifty futures pointing to a small gain after the benchmarks slipped in Sunday's special Diwali Muhurat trading session.

GIFT Nifty futures were trading 0.36% higher at 25,079.50 points at 7:44am in India on Monday, indicating the Nifty 50 could open about 93 points above its previous close. An earlier reading at 7:01am put the contract at 25,029.50, up 43.10 points, pointing to a more modest start.

The Nifty 50 ended the Muhurat session on Sunday at 24,986.40, down 43.95 points or 0.18% from Friday's close of 25,030.35, slipping back below the 25,000 mark. The BSE Sensex finished at 80,999.40, down 28.62 points or 0.04% from 81,028.02. The pullback was modest after a strong run last week, and the Nifty briefly crossed 25,000 during the session before easing lower.

Foreign investors turned net sellers during the Muhurat session, selling shares worth 25 lakh rupees and ending a six-day buying streak, according to provisional exchange data. Domestic institutional investors sold shares worth 700.31 crore rupees, their seventh consecutive session of selling. Even so, foreign investors have bought 38,971 crore rupees of Indian equities so far this month, exchange data showed.

The opening setup comes against mixed global signals. Wall Street ended mixed on Friday, with the Nasdaq rising 1.09% to 24,579.42 and the S&P 500 up 0.31% at 7,376.86, while the Dow Jones fell 0.46% to 51,285.73. Asian markets were mixed in early trade on Monday, with Japan's Nikkei up 2.37% at 58,795.95 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.27% to 24,481.86 and the Shanghai Composite was down 1.10% at 3,649.18.

Stronger-than-expected United States jobs data is shaping expectations for interest rates. US employers added 165,000 jobs in October, well above the 65,000 economists had expected, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.1% from 4.2%. The figures have lifted the probability of a Federal Reserve rate rise in December to nearly 80%, which could influence global bond yields and flows into emerging markets such as India. The benchmark US 10-year Treasury yield stood at 4.87%.

In commodities, Brent crude was trading at $97.32 a barrel, down 0.67%, while West Texas Intermediate was at $90.94. Gold rose 0.87% to $4,104.91 an ounce and silver climbed 1.98% to $52.93. The dollar index eased 0.15% to 102.14, and the Indian rupee was unchanged at 93.90 against the US dollar.

Domestic pharmaceutical shares will be in focus on Monday as the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority's 30% trade-margin cap on 137 non-scheduled oncology drugs takes effect from 9 November. The regulation sets a maximum mark-up of 42.86% at the price-to-stockist level, and traders will watch for its effect on drugmakers with exposure to the covered cancer medicines.

Among stocks to watch, Siemens reported a 4.78% rise in consolidated profit after tax to 504 crore rupees for the September quarter, with revenue up to 5,734 crore rupees and new orders rising 38% to 6,228 crore rupees. Divi's Laboratories posted a 63.6% jump in quarterly profit to 1,127 crore rupees, with revenue up 35.4% to 3,676 crore rupees.

Volatility is expected to stay elevated. The India VIX, a measure of expected market swings, rose 5.5% to 18.43 in the previous session, its highest level since 20 May. Trading will be thin this week because of the Diwali holiday, with Indian markets shut on Tuesday, so investors may keep positions light heading into the break. This article reports market movements; it is not investment advice.