Sensex, Nifty Seen Lower On Weak Global Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open a tad lower on Wednesday, tracking weak cues from global markets and amid renewed trade tensions with the United States.

U.S. President Donald Trump blamed China and India during his UN General Assembly address, calling the two nations the primary funders of the Ukraine war.

On the positive side, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has raised India's GDP growth forecast for 2025 to 6.7 percent from 6.3 percent predicted earlier, citing strong domestic demand and robust Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty cut early losses to end marginally lower on Tuesday, extending losses for a third straight session. The rupee depreciated 45 paise to hit a new low of 88.73 a dollar.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded shares worth Rs 3,551 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,671 crore, according to provisional data from exchanges.

Asian markets were broadly lower this morning after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave little indication about the future path of interest rates.

The U.S. dollar remained on the defensive after two consecutive days of declines while gold edged down slightly after reaching a new record high the previous day.

Oil traded higher for a second straight session after industry data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories, reinforcing concerns over tightening supplies.

Additionally, a deal to resume exports from Iraq's Kurdistan stalled, pacifying some investor concerns about oversupply.

U.S. stocks fell from record highs overnight, snapping a three-day winning streak amid doubts about the sustainability of the artificial intelligence bull trend.

Investors booked profits at higher levels after Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled a cautious approach to future rate cuts and stated that equity prices are currently "fairly highly valued" by many measures.

Powell also said the Fed is facing a "challenging situation" and that there is no risk-free path" to achieve the central bank's dual mandate of maintaining full employment and price stability in the U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, a measure of U.S. business activity slowed for a second straight month in September, fueling concerns about the economic outlook.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.6 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

European stocks closed mostly higher on Tuesday on Fed rate cut expectations. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.3 percent.

The German DAX edged up by 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 added half a percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 finished marginally lower.