Indian Markets Closed For Independence Day

(RTTNews) - Indian markets remain closed today as the nation marks its 78th Independence Day.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher on Thursday despite the Trump administration threatening increased secondary tariffs on India if peace talks between the U.S. and Russia don't go well in Alaska.

"We've put secondary tariffs on Indians for buying Russian oil. And I could see, if things don't go well, then sanctions or secondary tariffs could go up," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview to Bloomberg TV.

The rupee closed 11 paise lower at 87.55 against the greenback, recouping some early losses after a rating upgrade from S&P Global.

S&P Global Ratings upgraded India's sovereign ratings, citing buoyant economic growth, enhanced monetary policy conditions and the government's fiscal consolidation commitment.

The rating agency raised the country's sovereign credit ratings to 'BBB' from 'BBB-', with a 'stable' outlook, saying the higher tariffs from the U.S. administration will have only limited impact on the economy.

Cautious fiscal and monetary policy will help to moderate the elevated debt and interest burden of the government, which will support the rating over the next two years, S&P said.

S&P pointed out that India's exports to the U.S. constitute only 2 percent of GDP and therefore a higher tariff is unlikely to pose a material drag on India's growth.

The overall impact of tariff will be marginal and will not derail India's long-term growth prospects, it said.

Asian markets were mostly higher this morning, though Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell more than 1 percent as China's retail sales and industrial output figures fell short of expectations in July. Elsewhere, Japan Q2 GDP beat forecasts, fueling BoJ rate hike bets.

The dollar index was a tad softer and oil prices were marginally lower ahead of Alaska summit, while gold ticked up but poised for a weekly decline.

Overnight, U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending narrowly mixed as a much hotter-than-expected PPI inflation print dampened investor euphoria over a possible September rate cut.

Data showed producer prices rose 0.9 percent month-over-month in July compared to expectations of 0.2 percent.

On an annual basis, prices rose 3.3 percent, the most since February and up from an upwardly revised 2.4 percent in June.

"Core" producer prices, which exclude food, energy, and trade services, saw the largest increase in three years.

The S&P 500 inched up marginally to a new record closing high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the Dow ended flat with negative bias.

European stocks closed at their highest level in more than two months on Thursday amid hopes the Trump-Putin summit might help end the war in Ukraine.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 0.6 percent. The German DAX and France's CAC 40 both surged around 0.8 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1 percent.