Indian Shares Seen Higher On US-Iran Peace Deal Hopes

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening notably higher on Friday after Wall Street's three major indexes posted their biggest daily gains since April 8 overnight on hopes for a Midde East peace deal and expectations of a strong market debut of Elon Musk's SpaceX.

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed an agreement to end the war with Iran had been reached and would be signed shortly, possibly in Europe this weekend with Vice President JD Vance attending on his behalf.

Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz would officially reopen once the Iran deal was signed and that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.

However, Iran has not approved any text for any initial memorandum of understanding with the United States, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"The relevant authorities must reach a final decision regarding the text of the understanding and any potential agreement in detail. Once, a final decision is reached, we will issue an official statement," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmael Baqaei said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is not a party to the memorandum of understanding, while welcoming assurances from Trump that the final agreement with Iran would include the removal of enriched material, the dismantling of enrichment infrastructure, limits on missile production, and the cessation of Iran's support for its terrorist proxies in the region.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty ended a choppy session modestly lower on Thursday, with IT stocks leading losses.

The rupee plunged 50 paise to close at 95.75 against the dollar on the back of heavy FII outflows.

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 1,987 crore on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 4,225 crore, as per provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were broadly higher this morning, with South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index surging nearly 8 percent and Japan's Nikkei climbing 3.7 percent.

The dollar nursed losses and Treasury yields dipped amid easing inflation concerns.

Gold was subdued at $4,194 an ounce after rebounding sharply from a six-month low. Brent crude futures fell toward $89 a barrel, reaching two-month lows.

Overnight, U.S. stocks rose sharply while oil prices fell as President Donald Trump called off previously announced strikes and bombing against Iran, saying that discussions have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved by a broad coalition of regional powers.

Trump also said the U.S. naval blockade would remain in place until the agreement was finalized.

Earlier, Trump had warned the U.S. would hit Iran "very hard" and claimed he plans to seize control of Iran's primary oil export facility at Kharg Island.

In economic releases, investors shrugged off a report that showed U.S. producer prices rose in May at the fastest pace in more than three years.

Separate data revealed that weekly jobless claims increased marginally last week but remained at a historically low level despite economic headwinds brought on by the war in Iran.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite soared 2.5 percent, the Dow rallied 1.9 percent and the S&P 500 surged 1.8 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Thursday as the European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years and said it expects restrictive policy until 2027.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose half a percent. The German DAX inched up marginally, while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both added around half a percent.