Sensex, Nifty Likely To Open On Flat Note

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are likely to open on a muted note Thursday as investors react to mixed signals from the Trump administration on its plans for China tariffs.

FII flows, the Nifty's monthly F&O expiry for April and the latest batch of Q4 results may sway sentiment as the day progresses.

Meanwhile, according to the minutes of the RBI's recent meeting released on Wednesday, all six members of the rate setting panel struck a dovish note due to the possibility of the global tariff war affecting India's growth prospects.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty both rose around 0.7 percent each on Wednesday to extend gains for a seventh day running. with auto, pharma and IT stocks leading the surge on easing trade tensions.

The rupee fell by 24 paisa to 85.42 per dollar, logging its sharpest fall in two weeks as the dollar index staged some recovery and short-term players unwound their bullish bets.

Asian markets fluctuated this morning after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the president hasn't offered to take down China levies on a unilateral basis and there was no timeframe for engagement, casting doubt on a timely resolution to the trade war.

He also noted that there are multiple factors with regard to China beyond just tariffs and that a full rebalancing of trade might take two to three years.

The dollar weakened in early Asian trading and the Japanese yen snapped a two-day decline while gold rebounded, rising nearly 2 percent after falling 2.7 percent in the previous session.

Oil prices were little changed after settling nearly 2 percent lower on Wednesday as investors weighed the prospect of more OPEC+ supply and the fallout from Sino-U.S. tensions.

U.S. stocks rallied overnight, the dollar gained and safe-haven gold plunged after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that both the U.S. and China have the chance to make "a big deal" on trade. "If they want to rebalance, let's do it together," Bessent said.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ended 2.5 percent higher after surging as much as 4.5 percent earlier. The S&P 500 jumped 1.7 percent and the Dow climbed 1.1 percent.

European stocks closed Wednesday's session on a buoyant note as U.S. President Donald Trump softened his stance towards the Fed chairman and signaled China tariffs will come down.

The pan European STOXX 600 gained 1.8 percent to hit a three-week high. The German DAX rallied 3.1 percent, France's CAC 40 surged 2.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.9 percent.