Sensex, Nifty Seen Lower At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open on a weak note on Tuesday as investors keep a close eye on ongoing trade talks with the U.S. as well as escalating tensions in Europe and the Middle East, with EU targeting Russian supplies and Ukraine intensifying its attacks on Russian energy infrastructure.

Elsewhere, France and ten other countries formally recognized Palestine at a UN summit in New York, amid Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell around half a percent each on Monday, with IT stocks pacing the declines after the Trump administration announced sweeping changes to the H-1B visa regime, including a steep $100,000 fee for new applications.

The rupee fell by 15 paise to close at 88.31 against the dollar amid heightened risk-averse sentiment.

Foreign investors offloaded shares worth Rs 2,910 crore on a net basis on Monday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the tune of Rs 2,583 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian stocks were mostly higher this morning, with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and Hong Kong bracing for Super Typhoon Ragasa.

Oil prices traded lower in Asian trade amid demand concerns and fears of oversupply, with Iraq's federal and Kurdish regional governments announcing a deal with oil firms to resume crude exports via Turkey.

The dollar index was little changed while gold extended gains after climbing to a record in the previous session amid Fed rate cuts and ahead of this week's Treasury auctions and a key U.S. inflation reading that could show inflation likely grew at a slower pace last month.

Several Fed officials are set to speak at public events this week, including Chair Jerome Powell later in the day. In his first policy speech since joining the Fed, Governor Stephen Miran said the thinks the Fed's benchmark interest rate is far too high and should be lowered aggressively.

Fed Bank of St. Louis President Alberto Musalem noted he sees limited room for more rate cuts. His Cleveland counterpart Beth Hammack also called for caution in easing policy.

U.S. stocks edged higher overnight, with the major averages all reaching new record closing highs, as President Trump-backed newly installed Fed governor Stephen Miran dismissed fears of tariffs stoking inflation and said rates should be below 3 percent by end of year.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7 percent as OpenAI and NVIDIA announced a landmark AI infrastructure partnership, and the White House confirmed that Oracle would be part of a consortium of investors that will control TikTok's U.S. operations. The S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent and the Dow inched up 0.1 percent.

European stocks closed mostly lower on Monday amid increased geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East, and the Trump administration's announcement of sweeping changes to the H-1B visa regime.

The pan European Stoxx 600 slipped 0.1 percent. The German DAX dipped half a percent and France's CAC 40 slid 0.3 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up by 0.1 percent.