Indian Shares Seen Tad Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening a tad higher on Tuesday as crude oil prices fell from one-month highs amid ongoing mediation efforts in the Middle East to revive a fragile ceasefire.

Diplomatic talks are underway, with Axios reporting that U.S. President Donald Trump is nearing a decision between a 10-day ceasefire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and a full-scale coordinated U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz off Oman early today as the United States military conducted its tenth consecutive night of strikes on the country.

Two other ships were attacked in the Strait over the last 24 hours, with Iran's parliamentary Revolutionary Guard claiming those assaults.

On the trade front, Trump signed orders on Monday to impose new 50 percent tariffs on many Canadian goods, citing discrimination against American exports of automobiles, alcoholic beverages and dairy products.

The latest tariffs mark another significant step in the Trump administration's use of trade measures to pursue its America First economic agenda.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively on Monday as a mixed set of earnings results from private banks weighed heavily on the banking sector.

The rupee fell nearly 0.2 percent to close at 96.4450 against the dollar, hitting a two-month low despite central bank intervention through state-run banks.

Foreign institutional investors net sold shares worth Rs. 1,121.04 crore on Monday while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 1,312.03 crore, according to provisional exchange data.

Asian markets were mixed this morning as chip stocks rebounded ahead of earnings from major U.S. technology companies this week.

Tesla and Alphabet are scheduled to publish their quarterly results on Wednesday, followed by Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Amazon next week.

The dollar held near a one-week high while Brent crude futures held below $89 a barrel, trading near five-week highs on renewed U.S.-Iran military escalation and concerns over dwindling global oil supplies.

Gold traded higher at $4,036 an ounce after reclaiming the psychologically important $4,000-an-ounce level on Monday.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended lower for a third consecutive session as Treasury yields surged on worries about the outlook for inflation and interest rates amid the escalating Middle East conflict.

Oil prices surged to one-month highs in volatile trading as Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and U.S. President Trump warned Iran that it would pay "many times over" for every American soldier killed.

The narrower Dow dipped 0.6 percent, the S&P 500 eased 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally lower.

European stocks ended mixed in cautious trading on Monday after Iran said diplomatic exchanges with the United States were ongoing.

The pan-European STOXX 600 declined 0.3 percent. France's CAC 40 and the German DAX finished marginally higher while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 0.7 percent as Andy Burnham took office as the new Prime Minister.