The stage is being set for renewed talks in West Asia. There have been no attacks for the past two days, helping crude oil prices fall below $84 a barrel. US stock futures are trading higher.
Major Asian markets, however, are lower this morning due to renewed weakness in semiconductor chip companies.
In derivatives trading at GIFT City, GIFT Nifty closed at 24,448.00 on Friday night. It rose to 24,594 this morning, indicating that the Indian market could open with strong gains.
The India Meteorological Department said the deficit in southwest monsoon rainfall narrowed to 11.6% as of August 2.
Under the department’s classification, rainfall that is up to 19% above or below the long-period average is considered normal.
Kerala’s rainfall deficit narrowed to 26%. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam and Meghalaya have recorded rainfall deficits of more than 20%.
Around 33% of India’s geographical area has received rainfall that is more than 20% below normal.
US markets set aside their disappointment over the Federal Reserve leaving monetary policy unchanged and focused on corporate results, closing with strong gains on Friday.
For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 gained 1% each, while the Nasdaq rose 1.6%.
In July, however, the Nasdaq declined 3.2%. The Dow gained 0.3%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1%.
Amazon surged 15.3% and Alphabet gained 7% following their quarterly results. Apple declined 7.3%. Microsoft and Nvidia rose 3% each.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX fell again to $108.37. The stock is 33% below its listing price and 53% below its market peak. It also declined in after-hours trading. SpaceX will release its first-quarter results tomorrow.
A discarded part of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is expected to strike the Moon on Wednesday. No other problems are expected from the impact.
The Dow gained 276.97 points, or 0.53%, to close at 52,485.03 on Friday.
The S&P 500 advanced 52.09 points, or 0.70%, to end at 7,489.72. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 251.68 points, or 1%, to close at 25,373.85.
US futures are trading higher.
Dow futures are up 238 points, or 0.45%. S&P 500 futures have gained 37 points, or 0.49%, while Nasdaq futures are up 225 points, or 0.79%.
In the American Depositary Receipt market in New York, HDFC Bank declined 0.87% during regular trading on Friday before gaining 0.71% in after-hours trade to close at $24.10.
ICICI Bank fell 0.89% during the regular session and declined another 0.27% in after-hours trading to close at $29.91.
Infosys gained 0.67% during regular trading before falling 0.55% in after-hours trade to close at $11.96.
Wipro advanced 1.54% during the regular session and gained another 0.51% in after-hours trading to close at $1.99.
European markets ended mixed on Friday. The French and German indices recorded modest gains, while other markets declined.
Eurozone retail inflation rose from 2.8% to 2.9%.
Novo Nordisk shares fell 7.4% after a trial showed that a new drug developed for treating heart disease was ineffective.
Saint-Gobain gained 7% following a report that its annual sales were expected to improve.
Asian markets are trading lower today after semiconductor chip companies declined in the US market.
SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics fell by more than 7% in South Korea. The Kospi index declined 5%.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 2.5%. Australia’s benchmark index gained 0.40%, while Hong Kong also rose 0.40%. Shanghai declined 0.51%.
Global uncertainties kept the Indian market volatile on Friday. The benchmark indices, however, managed to close with modest gains, while the broader market performed better.
Automobile stocks advanced on expectations of strong vehicle sales in July. Financial companies and oil, pharmaceutical and media stocks also gained. Information technology and fast-moving consumer goods stocks declined.
Foreign investors were marginal net buyers on Friday, purchasing shares worth ₹277.48 crore in the cash market. Domestic institutional investors were net sellers of ₹2,260.37 crore.
After remaining heavy sellers in previous months, foreign institutional investors invested ₹20,200 crore in Indian equities in July. They had withdrawn ₹49,340 crore in June.
Between January and July, foreign investors remained net sellers of ₹2.54 lakh crore.
The Sensex gained 166.49 points, or 0.21%, to close at 78,094.64 on Friday. The Nifty rose 66.45 points, or 0.27%, to end at 24,383.60.
The Bank Nifty advanced 117.35 points, or 0.21%, to close at 57,264.85.
The Nifty Midcap 100 gained 273.55 points, or 0.44%, to end at 62,915.30. The Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 85.20 points, or 0.44%, to close at 19,339.65.
More stocks advanced in the broader market. On the BSE, 2,522 stocks rose and 1,722 declined. On the NSE, 2,050 stocks advanced while 1,243 fell.
Gold declined on Friday amid indications that the situation in West Asia was worsening.
There were no attacks over the weekend. US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that talks towards an agreement with Iran would resume on Monday and that attacks were being suspended. This lifted gold prices today.
Gold fell $60.20 on Friday to close at $4,043.70 an ounce. It rose to $4,069 this morning before declining to around $4,055.
In Kerala, the price of 22-carat gold rose by ₹200 per sovereign on Friday. It declined by ₹280 on Saturday to reach ₹1,05,760.
Silver closed at $57.70 an ounce and rose to $58.20 this morning.
Platinum stood at $1,653, palladium at $1,272 and rhodium at $7,825.
Industrial metals, except aluminium and lead, continued to gain on Friday.
Copper rose 0.29% to $13,833.15 a tonne. Aluminium declined 0.60% to close at $3,170.
Zinc, tin and nickel advanced, while lead declined.
International rubber prices declined, while prices remained elevated in Kerala.
In Bangkok, RSS-1 was quoted at $283.95 per quintal and RSS-3 at $280.50 per quintal.
In Kerala, RSS-4 stood at ₹28,400 per quintal.
Cocoa prices surged 5.58% on Friday to reach $5,397 a tonne.
The International Cocoa Organization expects production in Indonesia to increase despite the El Niño weather phenomenon. Production in West Africa is expected to decline.
Arabica coffee gained 2.80% to $3.32 a pound.
The US Department of Agriculture expects global coffee production to reach a record level this year. Record arabica output is expected in Brazil, while Vietnam is projected to produce a record robusta crop.
There are concerns that El Niño could reduce production next year.
The US Dollar Index fell on Friday to close at 99.91. It declined further to 99.52 this morning.
The euro rose to $1.1532, while the pound climbed to $1.3469.
The Japanese yen strengthened to 156.16 against the dollar. The Bank of Japan and the US Federal Reserve are jointly trying to strengthen the yen.
The Chinese yuan rose to 6.75 against the dollar.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury note declined to 4.698% this morning. It had risen as high as 4.75% last week.
The Indian rupee strengthened on Friday. The dollar declined by 30 paise to close at ₹95.38.
In the offshore non-deliverable forward market, the dollar was quoted at ₹95.40 this morning. The Chinese yuan declined to ₹14.07 and the euro to ₹109.65.
Reports that US-Iran talks would resume pushed crude oil prices lower again.
Brent crude closed at $87.93 a barrel on Friday. It declined to as low as $83.65 this morning.
West Texas Intermediate crude fell to $80.24 a barrel.
Cryptocurrencies, which declined over the weekend, are trading higher today.
Bitcoin rose above $63,150 this morning. Ether moved above $1,870, while Solana climbed above $73.