Measured optimism returns to markets as Trump hints at softening additional tariffs on India
ADVERTISEMENT But a runaway rally in the market is unlikely on reports that trade talks between India and the US have been postponed, adding fresh uncertainty. "The market has been range bound and could witness a relief rally next week triggered by short covering as there is significant short build up due to tariff uncertainty," said Mahesh Patil, CIO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC "The set up indicates an upward bias, and the recent market low is likely to be the bottom of the downtrend."
Patil said that while no deal was made, the meeting is expected to be the first step in the direction of a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia which is a positive.
"Trump's punitive tariff imposition on India is also expected to be pushed as he is likely to go soft on India's oil purchase from Russia, which is expected to be cheered by the street," he said.
The benchmark indices snapped the longest weekly losing streak in five years (April 2020) and bounced back after six weeks of consecutive declines on Thursday. The Indian stock market remained closed on Friday on account of Independence Day. Both Nifty and Sensex advanced around 1% in the past week. "The markets are expected to react more to the likelihood of the GST rationalisation rather than the Trump-Putin meeting as it was largely inconsequential for India," said Siddarth Bhamre, Head of Research, Asit C Mehta Intermediates.
ADVERTISEMENT Bhamre said that the GST rationalization is sentimentally positive. Unlock 500+ Stock Recos on App Analysts said further upsides will depend on whether the Nifty is able to cross a key hurdle of 24,800 levels where there is sizable build-up of derivative positions.
(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
9 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Doing more and differently must be mantra of India-Russia ties: Jaishankar
India and Russia should come out with a creative and innovative approach to confront complex geopolitical challenges, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday amid increasing strains in New Delhi's ties with Washington over its purchase of Russian crude oil. Jaishankar made the remarks at a meeting with Russia's First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in Moscow. In his televised opening remarks, the external affairs minister said India and Russia should continuously diversify and expand their "agenda" of cooperation including by diversifying the bilateral trade basket and through more joint ventures. "Doing more and doing differently should be our mantras," he said. The comments came against the backdrop of a downturn in relations between India and the US after President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent including a 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil. The external affairs minister arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on a three-day visit. The Jaishankar-Manturov talks were held under the framework of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological, and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC). The meeting was aimed at preparing grounds for Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India later this year. Elaborating on the importance of India-Russia ties in the context of current geopolitical upheaval, Jaishankar made specific suggestions to further consolidate the engagement, especially in the economic sphere. "The various working groups and sub groups could perhaps take a more creative and innovative approach towards their respective agendas. The challenges posed by the larger landscape that I mentioned require us to do so," he said. The external affairs minister said both sides should continuously diversify and expand their agenda through mutual consultation. "This will help us tap into full potential of our trade and investment ties. We should not get stuck on a beaten track," he said Jaishankar also called for setting "quantifiable targets and specific timelines" to achieve more in expanding the ties between the two countries. "I would urge that we set ourselves some quantifiable targets and specific timelines so that we challenge ourselves to achieve more, perhaps even surpass what we set out to do," he said. "Each working Group and each sub Group could apply itself to setting of targets and see what we could achieve by the next session of the IRIGC-TEC," he said. "For example, if you are looking at trade barriers, could we pick a certain number and make a commitment? If we have agreed to a certain proposal, can we set a firm timeline for that?" he said. Jaishankar also pitched for a "coordination mechanism" between the business forum and the different working groups of the IRIGC to ensure a two-way flow of ideas. "We will like the IRIGC to become even more result-oriented, relevant and readily available to the business communities of the two sides," he said.
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
9 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Texas House approves redrawn maps sought by Trump ahead of 2026 elections
The Texas House has approved redrawn congressional maps that would give Republicans a bigger edge in 2026, muscling through a partisan gerrymander that launched weeks of protests by Democrats and a widening national battle over redistricting. The approval on Wednesday came at the urging of President Donald Trump, who pushed for the extraordinary mid-decade revision of congressional maps to give his party a better chance at holding onto the US House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections. The maps, which would give Republicans five more winnable seats, need to be approved by the GOP-controlled state Senate and signed by Republican Gov Greg Abbott before they become official. But the Texas House vote had presented the best chance for Democrats to derail the redraw. Democratic legislators delayed the vote by two weeks by fleeing Texas earlier this month in protest, and they were assigned round-the-clock police monitoring upon their return to ensure they attended Wednesday's session. The approval of the Texas maps on an 88-52 party-line vote is likely to prompt California's Democratic-controlled state Legislature this week to approve of a new House map creating five new Democratic-leaning districts. But the California map would require voter approval in November. Democrats have also vowed to challenge the new Texas map in court and complained that Republicans made the political power move before passing legislation responding to deadly floods that swept the state last month. Texas maps openly made to help GOP Texas Republicans openly said they were acting in their party's interest. State Rep Todd Hunter, who wrote the legislation formally creating the new map, noted that the US Supreme Court has allowed politicians to redraw districts for nakedly partisan purposes. The underlying goal of this plan is straight forward: improve Republican political performance, Hunter, a Republican, said on the floor. After nearly eight hours of debate, Hunter took the floor again to sum up the entire dispute as nothing more than a partisan fight. What's the difference, to the whole world listening? Republicans like it, and Democrats do not. Democrats said the disagreement was about more than partisanship. In a democracy, people choose their representatives, State Rep Chris Turner said. This bill flips that on its head and lets politicians in Washington, DC, choose their voters. State Rep John H Bucy blamed the president. This is Donald Trump's map, Bucy said. It clearly and deliberately manufactures five more Republican seats in Congress because Trump himself knows that the voters are rejecting his agenda. Redistricting becomes tool nationwide in battle for US House The Republican power play has already triggered a national tit-for-tat battle as Democratic state lawmakers prepared to gather in California on Thursday to revise that state's map to create five new Democratic seats. This is a new Democratic Party, this is a new day, this is new energy out there all across this country, California's Democratic Gov Gavin Newsom said on a call with reporters on Wednesday. And we're going to fight fire with fire. A new California map would need to be approved by voters in a special election in November because that state normally operates with a nonpartisan commission drawing the map to avoid the very sort of political brawl that is playing out. Newsom himself backed the 2008 ballot measure to create that process, as did former President Barack Obama. But in a sign of Democrats' stiffening resolve, Obama Tuesday night backed Newsom's bid to redraw the California map, saying it was a necessary step to stave off the GOP's Texas move. I think that approach is a smart, measured approach, Obama said during a fundraiser for the Democratic Party's main redistricting arm. The incumbent president's party usually loses seats in the midterm election, and the GOP currently controls the House of Representatives by a mere three votes. Trump is going beyond Texas in his push to remake the map. He's pushed Republican leaders in conservative states like Indiana and Missouri to also try to create new Republican seats. Ohio Republicans were already revising their map before Texas moved. Democrats, meanwhile, are mulling reopening Maryland's and New York's maps as well. However, more Democratic-run states have commission systems like California's or other redistricting limits than Republican ones do, leaving the GOP with a freer hand to swiftly redraw maps. New York, for example, can't draw new maps until 2028, and even then, only with voter approval. Texas Democrats decry the new maps In Texas, there was little that outnumbered Democrats could do other than fume and threaten a lawsuit to block the map. Because the Supreme Court has blessed purely partisan gerrymandering, the only way opponents can stop the new Texas map would be by arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act requirement to keep minority communities together so they can select representatives of their choice. Democrats noted that, in every decade since the 1970s, courts have found that Texas' legislature did violate the Voting Rights Act in redistricting, and that civil rights groups had an active lawsuit making similar allegations against the 2021 map that Republicans drew up. Republicans contend the new map creates more new majority-minority seats than the previous one. Democrats and some civil rights groups have countered that the GOP does that through mainly a numbers game that leads to halving the number of the state's House seats that will be represented by a Black representative. State Rep Ron Reynolds noted the country just marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act's passage and warned GOP members about how they'd be remembered if they voted for what he called this racial gerrymander. Just like the people who were on the wrong side of history in 1965, history will be looking at the people who made the decisions in the body this day, Reynolds, a Democrat, said. Republicans hit back at criticism Republicans spent far less time talking on Wednesday, content to let their numbers do the talking in the lopsided vote. As the day dragged on, a handful hit back against Democratic complaints. You call my voters racist, you call my party racist and yet we're expected to follow the rules, said State Rep Katrina Pierson, a former Trump spokesperson. There are Black and Hispanic and Asian Republicans in this chamber who were elected just like you. House Republicans' frustration at the Democrats' flight and ability to delay the vote was palpable. The GOP used a parliamentary maneuver to take a second and final vote on the map so it wouldn't have to reconvene for one more vote after Senate approval. House Speaker Dustin Burrows announced as debate started that doors to the chamber were locked and any member leaving was required to have a permission slip. The doors were only unlocked after final passage more than eight hours later. One Democrat who refused the 24-hour police monitoring, State Rep Nicole Collier, had been confined to the House floor since Monday night. Some Democratic state lawmakers joined Collier Tuesday night for what Rep Cassandra Garcia Hernandez dubbed a sleepover for democracy. Republicans issued civil arrest warrants to bring the Democrats back after they left the state Aug 3, and Republican Gov Greg Abbott asked the state Supreme Court to oust several Democrats from office. The lawmakers also face a fine of $500 for every day they were absent. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
9 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Sanctions-hit Nayara Energy uses dark fleet to import oil, transport fuels
Indian refiner Nayara Energy, backed by Russia and under European Union sanctions, is relying on a dark fleet to import oil and transport refined fuels, according to shipping reports and LSEG flows. Nayara, which controls about 8 per cent of India's 5.2 million barrel-per-day refining capacity, has been struggling to transport fuel since being placed under EU sanctions in July, a move that prompted shippers to back out, forcing the refiner to cut its crude runs. India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, abides by UN sanctions and not unilateral actions, allowing refiners to import oil and ship products in vessels also under EU sanctions. This month, Nayara has imported at least seven cargoes of Russian oil, including on sanctions-hit vessels Centurion, Mars 6, Pushpa, Horae and Devika, formerly known as Apar, according to shipping reports and LSEG data. All were carrying about 700,000 barrels of Russian flagship Urals crude, the data shows. Nayara did not respond to an email seeking comment. Prior to the sanctions, Nayara was selling about 70 per cent of the refined fuels produced at its 400,000 bpd day Vadinar refinery in western Gujarat state through its local network of more than 6,600 fuel stations, and exporting the rest. Nayara, majority owned by Russian entities including Rosneft, is seeking government help to secure ships and maintain stable operations at the refinery, where it has cut runs to 70-80 per cent of capacity. A shipping source said Indian lines that undertake overseas voyages are not willing to carry oil and refined products for Nayara, while an official at a company that regularly shipped Nayara's refined products said they could not get insurance cover for their vessels in such cases. Another shipping source said Russian entities were helping Nayara arrange ships. According to LSEG trade flows, the company has used the Next, Tempest Dream, Leruo, Nova, Varg, Sard and Uriel - all under EU sanctions - to ship refined fuels, mainly gasoline and gasoil. Some of the vessels were renamed after being placed under sanctions. Evgeniy Griva, Russia's deputy trade representative to India, on Wednesday said Nayara is getting oil supplies from Russian oil major Rosneft and is not facing problems.
