Indian Shares Likely To Open On Cautious Note

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are likely to open on a cautious note on Thursday as concerns mounted about a re-escalation of the Middle East conflict and a stronger U.S. inflation print reinforced expectations that borrowing costs would remain higher for longer.

Amid shifting rate hike expectations, traders began pricing in a potential Federal Reserve rate hike as early as October.

After the U.S. military launched a new wave of strikes on multiple targets in Iran, Iranian state media reported that the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy shipping route, was "completely closed to all type of vessel."

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty gave up early gains to end little changed on Wednesday while the rupee closed marginally up at 95.2650 against the dollar.

Foreign institutional investors net sold shares worth Rs 2,125 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 3,124 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were modestly lower in cautious trade this morning and the dollar wobbled, while gold was a tad higher at $4,093 an ounce, after having hit a six-month low at $4,024 an ounce earlier amid heightened Iran tensions and Fed rate hike worries.

Brent crude futures jumped nearly 2 percent above $94 a barrel, paring some earlier gains after the U.S. military said that it had 'completed' its latest round of airstrikes targeting Iran.

Despite the escalating military actions, President Trump stated that the U.S. still aims to achieve a peace deal to resolve the ongoing conflict.

U.S. stocks tumbled overnight as fresh U.S.-Iran military clashes cast doubt on the prospects for a peace deal and data showed consumer inflation soared to its highest level in three years in May, matching expectations.

President Donald Trump ramped up his threats against Iran after the two sides traded strikes following the downing of an Apache helicopter.

Trump said that Iran has "taken too long" to negotiate and would have to "pay the price." Later he told reporters the U.S. would attack them "very hard".

On the data front, the 4.2 percent annual rise in CPI inflation boosted bets that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates this year. Core CPI came in at a 2.9 percent annual rate.

The Dow slumped 1.9 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 2 percent and the S&P 500 declined 1.6 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Wednesday as Middle East tensions flared again. The pan-European STOXX 600 finished marginally lower.

While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up by 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 dropped half a percent and the German DAX lost 1 percent.