Indian Shares Set To Extend Losses On Oil-led Inflation Fears

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may drift lower at open on Tuesday as investors monitor dollar and crude oil price movements for fresh direction. The latest batch of quarterly earnings from domestic companies may also remain in focus.

Brent crude futures remain elevated above $105 a barrel, after rising nearly 3 percent in the previous session as comments from U.S. President Donald Trump raised fresh doubts over the U.S-Iran ceasefire.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty slumped 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively on Monday as oil prices spiked past $100 a barrel again amid ongoing Gulf war concerns.

The rupee tanked 82 paise to close at a record low of 95.31 against the dollar after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to adopt wide-ranging and severe austerity measures to save foreign exchange.

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 8,438 crore on Monday, the highest since April 24, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 5,940 crore, according to provisional exchange data,

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning, the dollar held its gains from the previous session and gold was little changed at $4,730 an ounce as stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks pointed to a continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and investors priced out Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.

U.S. stocks rose slightly overnight to reach new record highs as gains in major technology shares on AI optimism offset worries about stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.

Investors looked past rising oil prices after President Trump rejected Iran's counteroffer to end the war as "unacceptable", adding the month-old ceasefire with Iran is "unbelievably weak" and on "massive life support."

Trump called Iran's response to his peace proposal a "piece of garbage" and said he "didn't even finish reading it."

The President also said he intends to suspend federal gasoline tax "for a period of time" amid surging prices driven by the Iran war.

The Dow and the S&P 500 both gained around 0.2 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up by 0.1 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Monday as investors reacted to rising U.S.-Iran tensions and a slew of corporate earnings updates.

The pan-European STOXX 600 gained 0.1 percent. While France's CAC 40 dropped 0.7 percent, the German DAX inched up marginally and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent.