Indian equities are expected to open on a subdued note today as investors weigh easing geopolitical tensions in West Asia against weakness in global technology stocks. Crude oil prices remain volatile, while Asian markets continue to struggle after last week's sharp sell-off in US technology shares.
US-Iran talks scheduled in Qatar tomorrow offer cautious optimism.
Crude oil remains volatile amid geopolitical uncertainty.
Asian markets extend losses as technology stocks remain under pressure.
Weak monsoon raises concerns over food inflation.
Indian equities likely to open with limited changes.
Fresh attacks were reported in West Asia over the weekend, although the conflict has not widened significantly. The latest flare-up followed Iran and its ally Hezbollah being excluded from Lebanon's latest peace initiative.
Markets are drawing some comfort from reports that the US and Iran will hold talks in Qatar tomorrow, while diplomatic discussions in Switzerland are also expected to continue.
Gift Nifty, which closed at 24,096.50 on Friday, slipped to 23,937 in early trade before recovering to around 24,140. The movement indicates a largely flat opening for Indian equities.
US President Donald Trump is expected to visit India in early 2027. Before that, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is likely to travel to New Delhi once again.
The success of the visit will largely depend on political developments in the US and the outcome of the ongoing Iran conflict. India is also expected to finalise a trade agreement with the US only if tariff terms remain more favourable than those offered to competing export nations.
The India Meteorological Department said the southwest monsoon rainfall remained 43.1 percent below normal as of June 28.
Around 71 percent of the country has received rainfall that is at least 20 percent below normal.
Key agricultural regions have recorded rainfall deficits ranging from 40 percent to 90 percent.
The weak monsoon has raised fresh concerns over food inflation.
US technology stocks witnessed another difficult week, with IT, AI and semiconductor companies leading the decline.
Nasdaq Composite fell 4.6 percent during the week, recording losses for five consecutive sessions.
S&P 500 declined 2 percent.
Dow Jones gained 0.6 percent.
Investor sentiment was hurt by:
SpaceX giving up all its post-listing gains during its second week of trading.
Reports that OpenAI may postpone its IPO until next year.
Growing concerns over the massive capital expenditure by AI companies on data centre infrastructure.
JPMorgan's assessment that returns on AI infrastructure investments could take many years to materialise.
The memory chip shortage also prompted Apple and Microsoft to increase prices on several products. Although Apple has not yet raised iPhone prices, markets expect an increase in the near future.
On Friday:
Dow Jones fell 44.51 points (0.09 percent) to close at 51,876.11.
S&P 500 declined 3.47 points (0.05 percent) to 7,354.02.
Nasdaq Composite lost 60.99 points (0.24 percent) to end at 25,297.62.
Among Indian ADRs traded in New York:
HDFC Bank rose 1.46 percent during regular trading and closed unchanged in after-hours trading at $25.74.
ICICI Bank gained 1.41 percent during market hours before falling 1.90 percent in after-hours trade to $28.99.
Infosys rose 1.99 percent during regular trading and added another 0.46 percent after hours to close at $10.83.
Wipro fell 3.65 percent during regular trading before recovering 0.44 percent in after-hours trading to $2.28.
US futures were in positive territory this morning.
Dow futures up 138 points (0.26 percent).
S&P 500 futures up 35 points (0.47 percent).
Nasdaq futures higher by 127 points (0.43 percent).
European markets closed lower on Friday, dragged down by weakness in semiconductor and memory chip companies.
Technology shares continue to weigh on Asian markets.
South Korea's Kospi has fallen 10.4 percent from last week's record high of 9,385.59.
Japan's Nikkei is nearly 4.75 percent below Monday's all-time high.
Last week, SK Hynix and Samsung lost more than 10 percent, while SoftBank Group declined 15 percent.
South Korea's benchmark opened 2.5 percent lower today, while Japan's index initially lost around 1 percent before trimming losses.
Hong Kong and Shanghai also opened lower.
After Wednesday's rally, Indian equities extended gains on Thursday morning before giving up most of them during the final hour of trading.
Mid cap and small cap indices ended more than 0.5 percent lower.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth ₹383.76 crore on Thursday.
Domestic institutions purchased shares worth ₹5,747.75 crore.
Despite Thursday's buying, foreign investors have sold ₹53,022 crore worth of Indian equities in June so far, compared with ₹32,963 crore in May.
Foreign investors have withdrawn ₹2,77,954 crore from Indian equities so far this year, while investing ₹48,994 crore in Indian debt markets during June.
Sensex gained 109.25 points (0.14 percent) to 77,100.47.
Nifty rose 34.35 points (0.14 percent) to 24,056.00.
Bank Nifty added 26.70 points (0.05 percent) to 58,177.05.
Nifty Midcap 100 fell 0.55 percent.
Nifty Smallcap 100 declined 0.47 percent.
Market breadth remained weak.
On the BSE, 1,602 stocks advanced while 2,627 declined.
On the NSE, 1,221 stocks gained and 2,052 fell.
Rajesh Exports hit the lower circuit for a second consecutive session after reports that the Enforcement Directorate found missing documentation for several transactions during searches at the company's premises.
Gold rallied late last week after crude oil prices declined.
Spot gold closed Friday at $4,090.60 an ounce before slipping to around $4,047 this morning as tensions resurfaced in West Asia. It later recovered to around $4,060 after crude oil eased.
In Kerala, 22-carat gold rose ₹1,040 on Saturday to ₹1,05,560 per sovereign.
Silver slipped from $59.31 to around $58.47 an ounce this morning.
Platinum traded at $1,611, palladium at $1,184 and rhodium at $7,200.
Industrial metals ended mostly higher on Friday.
Copper rose 0.70 percent to $13,287 per tonne.
Aluminium gained 0.47 percent to $3,179.50.
Zinc and tin advanced.
Lead and nickel declined.
Rubber prices continued to soften in overseas markets.
In Bangkok:
RSS-1 fell to $308.20 per quintal.
RSS-3 declined to $304.80.
In Kerala, RSS-4 dropped to ₹27,000 per quintal on Saturday.
Cocoa prices eased to $5,095 per tonne after touching $5,247 last week, with El Niño-related concerns over West African production continuing to support prices.
The US Dollar Index closed at 101.36 on Friday and edged up marginally to around 101.39 this morning.
Euro strengthened to $1.1384.
Pound rose to $1.3195.
Japanese yen traded at 161.73 per dollar.
Chinese yuan weakened to 6.80 per dollar.
The yield on the 10-year US Treasury eased to 4.382 percent.
The Indian rupee ended Thursday 27 paise stronger at ₹94.40 against the dollar.
In the offshore NDF market this morning:
Dollar traded around ₹94.46.
Chinese yuan was at ₹13.83.
Euro stood at ₹107.05.
Weekend tensions in West Asia briefly pushed crude oil prices up by more than 1 percent.
Prices later eased following reports that US-Iran talks would take place in Doha tomorrow.
Brent crude, which closed Friday at $71.99, traded around $72.50 this morning.
WTI crude was at $70.03.
Cryptocurrency markets continued to trade under pressure.
Bitcoin remained above $59,500.
Ether stayed below $1,570.
Solana traded below $71.5.
Indian markets (Previous close)
Sensex: 77,100.47 (+0.14%)
Nifty 50: 24,056.00 (+0.14%)
Bank Nifty: 58,177.05 (+0.05%)
Nifty Midcap 100: 61,795.50 (-0.55%)
Nifty Smallcap 100: 18,790.05 (-0.47%)
Global markets
Dow Jones: 51,876.11 (-0.09%)
S&P 500: 7,354.02 (-0.05%)
Nasdaq Composite: 25,297.62 (-0.24%)
Currencies and commodities
Dollar: ₹94.40
Gold (spot): $4,090.60 per ounce
Gold (Kerala, 22-carat): ₹1,05,560 per sovereign
Brent crude: $71.99 per barrel
