Indian Shares Look Headed For Positive Start

(RTTNews) - Higher GIFT Nifty futures, fairly steady Asian stocks and positive lead from Wall Street point to a firm start for Indian shares on Thursday.

Investors are likely to pick up stocks amid hopes a fresh round of negotiations between Iran and the U.S. this week will help resolve the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

In an interview with Fox Business, President Donald Trump expressed confidence the war is "very close to over" and reiterated his claim that Iran wants to make a deal "very badly."

Trump also predicted that the "stock market is going to boom" when the conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran is finally over.

HDFC Life and Wipro will be in focus as the companies are scheduled to announce their quarterly results today.

HDB Financials reported a 41.4% jump in earnings after tax to ?751 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, up from ?531 crore in the same period last year.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company reported a 7.25% YoY increase in net profit to ?547 crore for the quarter ended on March 31, up from ?510 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Indian shares rose sharply on Wednesday as investors braced for possible new peace talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan. A drop in oil prices helped as well.

Brent crude prices slumped to around $95 a barrel after Trump indicated in an interview that the second round of U.S.-Iran talks "could happen over the next two days" to work out a deal that could end the war that began on Feb. 28.

The benchmark BSE Sensex soared 1,263.67 points, or 1.64%, to 78,111.24 as hopes of renewed U.S.-Iran negotiations eased fears of an energy-led inflation shock and prompted traders to dial back hawkish expectations for Fed policy.

The broader NSE Nifty index jumped 388.65 points, or 1.63%, to 24,231.30. Stocks from midcap and smallcap segments moved up as well, lifting the respective indexes up by 2.2% and 2.4%.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs on Wednesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 376.93 points or 1.6% to 24,016.02 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.57 points or 0.8% to 7,022.95, although the Dow bucked the uptrend and dipped 72.27 points or 0.2% to 48,463.72.