Indian Shares Set To Follow Asian Peers Higher

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open on a positive note Monday, tracking firm cues from other Asian markets amid optimism for Federal Reserve rate cuts and reports of potential Nvidia AI chip sales to China.

Meanwhile, top U.S. and Ukrainian officials said Sunday they'd made progress toward ending the Russia-Ukraine war but provided scant details.

A bout of portfolio outflows and optimism surrounding a potential U.S.-India trade deal may also offer some support ahead of key fiscal deficit, industrial output and July-September GDP growth data due this week.

In a significant diplomatic breakthrough, Canada and India have agreed to restart stalled talks for a new trade deal.

Asian markets traded higher, with Japan closed for a holiday. The dollar was steady while oil extended its slump after the biggest weekly loss since early October on concerns that a Ukraine-Russia peace deal could increase crude flows into an already well-supplied market.

Gold slipped to around $4,050 per ounce, extending Friday's decline, as investors await more U.S. economic data, including reports on retail sales, producer price index and weekly jobless claims for clearer signals on the Federal Reserve's policy outlook.

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday but were down sharply for the week amid growing worries of a potential bubble in artificial intelligence stocks.

The Dow climbed 1.1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.9 percent and the S&P 500 surged 1 percent after New York Federal Reserve President John Williams described monetary policy as being "modestly restrictive" and said he sees "room for a further adjustment" to rates in the near term.

Investors also cheered data that showed improved consumer sentiment and decreasing inflation expectations.

European stocks fell broadly on Friday after the release of a batch of weak regional economic data.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.3 percent. The German DAX dipped 0.8 percent and France's CAC 40 while the German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both finished marginally higher.