Sensex, Nifty Set To Drift Lower On Weak Asian Cues

(RTTNews) - Indian shares may open slightly lower on Wednesday as investors weigh tariff worries against hopes for more policy easing by RBI in future.

Tariff worries persist, with Nvidia warning that it would take a quarterly charge of about $5.5 billion tied to exporting H20 graphics processing units to China.

U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing of reneging on a major Boeing deal, with the White House saying it is up to China, not the United States, to come to the negotiating table on trade.

Meanwhile, India's consumer price inflation eased further in March to the lowest level in more than five-and-a-half years amid slower rise in food prices, official data revealed.

Consumer price inflation eased more-than-expected to 3.34 percent in March from 3.61 percent in February, boosting rate cut bets.

The expected rate was 3.60 percent. Moreover, this was the lowest since August 2019, when prices had risen 3.28 percent.

Similarly, India's wholesale price inflation eased further in March to the lowest level in four months, according to provisional data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The wholesale price index, or WPI, rose 2.05 percent year-over-year in March, following a 2.38 percent increase in February. Economists had expected inflation to rise to 2.50 percent.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty jumped over 2 percent each on Tuesday following temporary U.S. tariff reliefs on electronics and auto-related imports.

The rupee gained about 27 paise to close above the 86 per dollar mark amid a weak dollar and smart gains in domestic equity markets.

Asian markets were mostly lower this morning despite China Q1 GDP beating estimates. Industrial output rose at a faster pace in March, retail sales growth topped expectations and fixed asset investment was in line with expectations, aided by the government's initiatives to boost local consumption.

The dollar clung to a small bounce in Asian trade while gold rallied to hit a new record high past $3,270 per ounce.

Oil extended losses amid expectations for a glut and lingering concerns over the effects of U.S.-China trade war.

U.S. stocks fluctuated before ending modestly lower overnight despite better-than-expected first-quarter earnings from Bank of America and Citigroup.

An uneasy calm prevailed as the Mexican government halted U.S. fuel imports sent into the country by road and China ordered its airlines not to take further deliveries of Boeing jets in retaliation against U.S. tariffs.

The Dow shed 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally lower.

European stocks closed higher on Tuesday amid tentative optimism that there will be some respite from U.S. President Trump's tariffs regime.

The pan European STOXX 600 climbed 1.6 percent. The German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both jumped by 1.4 percent while France's CAC 40 added 0.9 percent.