Indian markets set for muted open as Middle East tensions spur caution
June 20 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks are poised for a subdued start on Friday, in line with broader Asian markets, as escalating tensions between Israel and Iran continue to rattle global investor sentiment.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,777.5, as of 7:46 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 (.NSEI), opens new tab will open near the previous close of 24,793.25.
Both the Nifty and Sensex (.BSESN), opens new tab indexes ended flat in the previous session, while the broader markets fell on risk-aversion mode.
Asian peers (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab opened subdued on Friday after reports that Israel had bombed Iranian nuclear sites, triggering retaliatory missile and drone strikes from Iran.
The White House said U.S. President Donald Trump would decide within two weeks whether the U.S. would back Israel militarily. Wall Street equities were closed on Thursday.
"Investors are treading cautiously, with fears of U.S. involvement adding a fresh layer of uncertainty to an already volatile environment," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
Domestic institutional investors (DII) remained net buyers of Indian stocks for the 23rd consecutive session on Thursday, with net inflows of 11.13 billion rupees ($128 million) in the previous session, cushioning volatile foreign flows and lending liquidity support to the markets.
** Mastek (MAST.NS), opens new tab launches ADOPT.AI, a comprehensive suite of AI solutions aimed at driving enterprise-wide AI adoption
** Nestle India (NEST.NS), opens new tab says it will consider issuing bonus shares at a board meeting scheduled on June 26
** ITD Cementation (ITCM.NS), opens new tab secures contracts worth 9.6 billion rupees
** HDFC Bank's (HDBK.NS), opens new tab unit HDB Financial Services sets a price band of 700-740 rupees per share for its initial public offering; issue to run from June 25-27
($1 = 86.8130 Indian rupees)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
6 minutes ago
- Reuters
European shares rebound as worries of US involvement in Middle East ease
June 20 (Reuters) - European shares rebounded on Friday after three sessions of declines, as a stall in the United States' involvement in the Middle East conflict came as a relief to worried investors. The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab was up 0.4% at 537.98 points at 0708 GMT. The benchmark is on track to log weekly declines for a second week. Israel and Iran's air war entered a second week and European officials sought to draw Tehran back to the negotiating table after President Donald Trump said any decision on potential U.S. involvement would be made within two weeks. The news improved market mood and helped recover some interest in risk assets that were being sold off during the week on uncertainty around how long the conflict would go on. In the market, travel and leisure stocks (.SXTP), opens new tab gained the most, up 1.1%, as oil prices eased. Conversely, energy shares (.SXEP), opens new tab were at the bottom of the index with a 0.7% decline, trimming some gains from this week. Among stocks, London's Berkeley (BKGH.L), opens new tab was the biggest percentage decliner, down 8%. The homebuilder named current finance chief Richard Stern as its new CEO, but reported an annual pre-tax profit slightly ahead of market expectations.
Reuters
19 minutes ago
- Reuters
South African rand flat as uncertainty over Middle East conflict hangs over markets
JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) - The South African rand was trading almost flat early on Friday, as investors worried about conflict in the Middle East, with Israel and Iran's air war entering a second week and a decision on potential U.S. involvement. At 0649 GMT the rand traded at 18.0250 against the dollar , little changed from Thursday's close. The U.S. dollar also traded flat against a basket of currencies with investors in limbo after the White House said on Thursday that Trump will decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. will get involved in the Israel-Iran war. No major domestic data releases are due on Friday but domestically, investors will look to producer inflation (ZAPPIY=ECI), opens new tab and leading indicator (ZALEAD=ECI), opens new tab data set to be released next week, to gauge the health of Africa's most industrialised economy. South Africa's benchmark 2035 government bond was marginally stronger in early deals, as the yield fell 2 basis points to 10.12%.
Reuters
23 minutes ago
- Reuters
German car manufacturers incurred costs of half a billion euros in April due to tariffs, says VDA
BERLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - German car manufacturers are likely to have incurred costs of around half a billion euros in April due to import tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, the head of the VDA auto industry lobby group said an interview published on Friday. "We have roughly estimated that German manufacturers probably incurred additional costs of around half a billion euros in their export business from Germany to the USA in April," Hildegard Mueller told the Funke media group.
