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Indian shares are set for a muted start on Friday, the last trading day of the year. <\/p>\n
Global sentiment remains fragile due to tariff concerns and amid caution ahead of the upcoming quarterly earnings season. <\/p>\n
The focus remains on the U.S.-India trade meet, which began on Wednesday and will conclude on Saturday. It involves negotiations on a bilateral trade agreement between the two countries.<\/p>\n
Talks for a trade deal are progressing well and will be for the “good” of both countries while protecting domestic interests, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. <\/p>\n
Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty rose around half a percent each on Thursday despite heightened uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy. The rupee marginally weakened to 85.78 per dollar due to month-end dollar demand from oil companies. <\/p>\n
Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 11,111.25 crore on a net basis Thursday while domestic institutional investors offloaded shares to the extent of Rs 2,517.70 crore, as per provisional data. <\/p>\n
Since resuming their buying activity, FIIs have made a net purchase of Rs 32,488.63 crore in the last six trading sessions.<\/p>\n
Asian markets<\/span> were mostly lower this morning, with Japan and South Korea leading regional losses. <\/p>\n Gold extended gains after hitting a new record in the prior session. <\/p>\n Yields on the 10-year Treasury were little changed and the dollar held steady ahead of the release of PCE price index report, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, later in the day. <\/p>\n Oil prices dipped marginally after rising on Thursday on concerns over potential supply disruption from producers including Iran and Venezuela. <\/p>\n U.S. stocks ended lower overnight as investors remained wary of President Trump’s tariff policies. <\/p>\n Economic data offered some relief, with the U.S. economy<\/span> growing slightly faster than previously estimated in the fourth quarter of 2024, weekly jobless claims slipping last week and pending home sales rebounding in February.<\/p>\n The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid half a percent, the Dow lost 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 gave up 0.3 percent. <\/p>\n European shares ended at their lowest in nearly two weeks on Thursday after the announcement of 25 percent U.S. tariffs on auto imports. <\/p>\n The pan European STOXX 600 declined 0.4 percent. The German DAX fell 0.7 percent, France’s CAC 40 dipped half a percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 eased 0.3 percent. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n