Sensex, Nifty Set To Follow Global Peers Lower

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may follow global peers lower on Friday as investors wait for clarity on U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies and eagerly await the outcome of Ukraine peace talks.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell modestly on Thursday amid tariff concerns and uncertain outlooks for both global trade and inflation.

The rupee rose by 29 paise to close at a one-week high of 86.66 against the greenback amid dollar sales and gains in Asian currencies.

Foreign Institutional Investors remained net sellers on Thursday and offloaded shares worth Rs 3,311 crore, while domestic Institutional Investors were net buyers, buying stocks worth Rs 3,907 crore, as per provisional data.

Asian markets were mostly lower this morning, though Hong Kong stocks surged after Alibaba Group Holding announced its fastest pace of revenue growth in more than a year.

The dollar index was up slightly while gold was steady after hitting a fresh record high as geopolitical tensions mount.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needs to return to the negotiating table and strike a deal on U.S. access to Ukraine's critical minerals, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz has said at a white House briefing.

Waltz also said the White House was "very frustrated" with Zelensky after he levelled "unacceptable" insults at President Donald Trump earlier this week.

The comments overshadowed a meeting in Kyiv between Zelensky and Keith Kellogg, the U.S. chief envoy to Ukraine.

Oil headed for its biggest weekly gain since early January on increasing supply uncertainty.

U.S. stocks ended firmly in the red overnight as Walmart's fiscal 2026 guidance missed analyst expectations and big bank stocks fell sharply amid concerns about the outlook for growth, inflation and interest rates.

In economic news, there was a slight increase in jobless claims last week, while manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region expanded at a much slower pace in February, separate set of data revealed.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.4 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up half a percent and the narrower Dow lost 1 percent.

European stocks fell on Thursday amid mixed corporate earnings and uncertainty around peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

The pan European STOXX 600 eased 0.2 percent. The German DAX dipped half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.6 percent while France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.2 percent.