Sensex, Nifty Set For Muted Start

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening little changed on Wednesday despite top U.S. and Chinese officials agreeing on a "framework" to move forward on trade, following two days of high-level talks in London.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the discussions were productive while commerce secretary Howard Lutnick expressed optimism that concerns surrounding rare earth minerals and magnets "will be resolved" eventually, as the deal is implemented.

China international trade representative Li Chenggang said: "Our communication has been very professional, rational, in-depth and candid." Li expressed hope that progress made in London would help to boost trust on both sides.

The framework will first need to be approved by leaders in Washington and Beijing. Meanwhile, the World Bank has slashed global economic growth forecasts, citing heightened trade tensions and policy uncertainty.

India's GDP growth projection for the current financial year has been slashed to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent estimated in January.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fluctuated before ending narrowly mixed on Tuesday while the rupee rose by 9 paise to close at 85.57 against the dollar, driven by foreign investor inflows.

Asian markets clung to modest gains this morning and gold ticked higher on dollar weakness ahead of key U.S. inflation readings while oil prices were little changed.

A federal appeals court allowed U.S. President Donald Trump's most sweeping tariffs to remain in effect while it reviews a lower court decision.

U.S. stocks eked out modest gains overnight after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the U.S.-China trade negotiations went really, really well.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.6 percent to end higher for a third day running while the Dow added 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6 percent.

European stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as investors monitored updates from Sino-U.S. talks.

The pan European STOXX 600 finished marginally lower. The German DAX fell 0.8 percent while France's CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both gained around 0.2 percent.