Indian Shares Seen Tad Lower At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open on a sluggish note on Wednesday as investors react to higher oil prices and await a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling on President Trump's tariffs that were announced in April.

After holding a "good conversation" with his U.S. counterpart Marco Rubio on crucial trade negotiations, critical minerals, nuclear cooperation, defense, and energy, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar highlighted BRICS as a key forum for dialogue amid global uncertainties.

In its latest Global Economic Prospects report, the World Bank has revised its India's FY26 growth to 7.2 percent and projected 6.5 percent growth for FY27.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended with modest losses on Tuesday on the back of tariff concerns, some weak earnings announcements and sustained selling by foreign institutional investors.

The rupee closed slightly weaker at 90.19 against the dollar after news emerged that Indian bonds will not be included in a global index.

Foreign investors offloaded shares worth Rs 1,500 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 1,182 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian stocks were flat to slightly higher this morning, with Japan's Nikkei extending a record run, driven by a weaker yen on speculation of a snap election.

The U.S. dollar strengthened to a near one-month high as in-line inflation data and Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin's remarks supported expectations of a prolonged Fed pause.

Gold rose toward a record high, rising 0.7 percent to $4,620 an ounce during the early Asian session.

Brent crude futures edged down slightly after notching their biggest four-day gain since June, as Trump ramped up rhetoric on Iran, threatening the country with military intervention, and asking Iranians to continue their nationwide protests, take over institutions and record the names of "killers and abusers".

Overnight, U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending lower as JPMorgan Chase kicked off bank earnings with a mixed quarter and investors grappled with a raft of Donald Trump proposals in the past few days over credit card price controls, defense industry shareholder awards and executive pay, and costs of powering AI data centers.

Markets shrugged off data that showed U.S. consumer prices rose 2.7 per cent year-on-year in December, in line with expectations.

The Dow dipped 0.8 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite eased 0.1 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.2 percent.

European stocks ended little changed on Tuesday after a cautious session amid mixed earnings updates and heightened geopolitical tensions.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged down marginally. While the German DAX finished marginally higher, France's CAC 40 slid 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down marginally.