Indian equity benchmarks to open higher; US tariffs continue to weigh

Yahoo

3 days ago

(Reuters) -India's equity benchmarks are likely to open marginally higher on Monday, after posting a sixth straight weekly loss, but the sentiment is likely to remain subdued due to uncertainty over U.S. tariffs on goods from India.
The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,436, as of 7:42 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open above Friday's close of 24,363.3.
The Nifty and Sensex shed nearly 1% last week, and logged their longest weekly losing streak in five years, as U.S. tariffs and muted earnings dampened sentiment.
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a 50% tariff on goods from India, half of which has already come into effect, while the additional 25%, which is a punitive tariff for buying Russian oil, will be effective August 28.
Investors will closely watch the meeting between Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors turned buyers in India on Friday, as per provisional data, marking only their third session of buying in the last 20 sessions.
Trump's 50% tariff on Indian goods "came as a shock to the market and this has impacted sentiment negatively. FPI investment, going forward, will be decided by the developments on the tariff front", said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.
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