India’s equity benchmarks are poised to open lower on Thursday, tracking weakness across broader Asian peers, after
GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 22,359, as of 7:41 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 will open below Wednesday’s close of 22,679.40 points.
Other Asian markets dropped 1.2% after Trump said Washington’s “core strategic objectives” in the Iran war were nearing completion. However, he did not provide a clear outlook on when the conflict would end.
Trump’s comments that the U.S. will strike Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks also intensified near-term geopolitical anxiety and drove crude oil prices higher.
Brent crude climbed 4% to about $105 per barrel.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) offloaded shares worth ₹8331 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought stocks worth ₹7172 crore, according to NSE’s provisional data.
In the previous session, the Nifty 50 and Sensex indexes gained about 1.6% each, in line with a global rally sparked by expectations of a de-escalation in the Iran war.
STOCKS TO WATCH
** Karnataka Bank says its gross advances rose 6.9% year-on-year and provisional deposits were up 3.8%, as of March-end
** Pace Digitek secures EPC order from NTPC worth 4.95 billion rupees for the implementation of a 200 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Bihar
** Hero MotoCorp posts 24% dispatch growth in the March quarter, while total two-wheeler sales rose 8.8% in March
** NMDC says total iron ore production surged 51% to 5.35 MT in the March quarter while sales rose 40%