Indian Stock Markets Brace for Lower Opening on Monday
The benchmark indices of the Indian stock market, Sensex and Nifty 50, are likely to open lower on Monday. This expectation comes as global markets show weakness and investor sentiment turns cautious. Asian markets traded mostly lower in early sessions, while US stocks ended flat last week. The mood soured further after US President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on European countries over Greenland.
Friday's Performance and Weekly Outlook
On Friday, the Indian stock market managed to end higher, breaking a two-day losing streak. Gains in IT heavyweights supported the uptick. The Sensex climbed 187.64 points, or 0.23%, to close at 83,570.35. The Nifty 50 rose 28.75 points, or 0.11%, settling at 25,694.35.
This week, investors will keep a close watch on several key triggers. These include ongoing third-quarter results, developments in the US-Iran conflict, tariff updates, India-US trade talks, trends in crude oil prices, movements in gold and silver prices, foreign portfolio investor flows, and other domestic and global macroeconomic data.
Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Research for Wealth Management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, shared his perspective. He said markets are expected to trade sideways in the near term. Stock-specific action will likely be driven by earnings and trade-related developments. Any geopolitical escalations remain a key risk factor, he added.
Global Market Cues Influencing Sensex Today
Asian markets traded mostly lower on Monday ahead of key economic data from China. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei 225 declined 0.85%, while the Topix fell 0.46%. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.18%, but the Kosdaq dropped 0.15%. Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures pointed to a lower opening.
Gift Nifty was trading around the 25,592 level. This represents a discount of nearly 160 points from the Nifty futures' previous close. It indicates a gap-down start for the Indian stock market indices.
Wall Street Performance and Key Stock Movements
The US stock market ended Friday's choppy session nearly flat ahead of the long weekend. All three major indexes posted losses for the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 83.11 points, or 0.17%, to 49,359.33. The S&P 500 fell 4.46 points, or 0.06%, to 6,940.01. The Nasdaq Composite ended 14.63 points, or 0.06%, lower at 23,515.39.
For the week, the S&P 500 declined 0.38%, the Nasdaq fell 0.66%, and the Dow dropped 0.29%. In individual stock movements, Nvidia's price fell 0.47%, AMD shares gained 1.72%, Apple stock declined 1.04%, Amazon shares rose 0.39%, and Tesla stock fell 0.24%.
Trump's Tariff Threat and Its Impact
US President Donald Trump vowed to implement increasing tariffs on European Union members. The list includes Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland, along with Britain and Norway. He said this would continue until the US is allowed to buy Greenland. This threat has added to global trade tensions.
Japanese Bond Yields Surge
Benchmark Japanese government bond yields jumped to a near 27-year high. The 10-year JGB yield rose 3.5 basis points to 2.215%. This is the highest level since February 1999. The two-year yield increased 0.5 basis points to 1.2%.
Key Q3 Results from Indian Companies
Reliance Industries reported a consolidated net profit of ₹22,290 crore in the third quarter of FY26. This marks a 1.6% rise from ₹21,930 crore in the year-ago quarter. RIL's consolidated revenue from operations increased 10.5% to ₹2,69,496 crore from ₹2,43,965 crore year-on-year. EBITDA rose 6.1% year-on-year to ₹50,932 crore. However, the EBITDA margin declined by 70 basis points to 17.3% from 18% year-on-year.
HDFC Bank's third-quarter FY26 net profit rose 11.4% year-on-year to ₹18,653.75 crore. Net Interest Income increased 6.4% year-on-year to ₹32,615 crore. Asset quality weakened sequentially. Total end-of-period deposits grew 11.6%, while gross advances rose 11.9% year-on-year.
Gold and Silver Prices Hit Record Highs
Gold and silver jumped to record highs on fears of a damaging trade war between the US and Europe. Spot gold price rallied 1.6% to $4,668.76 an ounce. It hit a peak of $4,690.59 earlier. Silver price surged 3.2% to $93.0211 and touched a high of $94.1213.
Dollar Movement and Currency Updates
The dollar fell after Trump's latest tariff threats against Europe over Greenland. This led to buying into safe-haven currencies like the yen and Swiss franc. Reuters reported a broad risk-averse move across markets. The dollar index fell 0.19% to 99.18. The greenback slid 0.45% against the safe-haven Swiss franc to 0.7983. It was down 0.33% to 157.59 yen.
The euro bounced 0.19% to $1.1619. The British pound recovered 0.17% to $1.3398.
Crude Oil Prices Decline
Crude oil prices traded lower as tensions over Iran cooled. Brent crude oil price fell 0.41% to $63.87 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 0.40% to $59.20.
