Sensex, Nifty Seen Tad Lower After Oil Price Surge

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open lower on Monday as investors watch oil price movements and await more corporate earnings following a mixed batch of earnings updates from IT giants last week.

Bajaj Auto, Bajaj Finance, CEAT, HDFC Bank, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, L&T Technology Services and Wipro are among the prominent companies due to unveil their quarterly earnings results this week.

Geopolitical developments will continue to remain on investors' radar as Israeli troops prepare for a ground assault on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

The U.S. and its allies are trying to avert wider Israel war after Iran warned that "the hands of all parties in the region are on the trigger."

Meanwhile, data shows that foreign investors have pulled out nearly Rs. 9,800 crores from Indian equities this month due to concerns over rising bond yields and the Middle East conflict.

Asian markets were seeing modest losses this morning after reports that the U.S. is looking to tighten sweeping measures to restrict China's access to advanced semiconductors and chipmaking gear.

Oil prices were little changed after having climbed nearly 6 percent on Friday as Middle East violence escalated.

The dollar held gains on safe-haven bids while gold fell from a one-month high ahead of key U.S. data and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech due this week.

U.S. stocks fell broadly on Friday as data showed a slump in consumer sentiment and a surge in inflation expectations.

Surging crude prices on fears about an escalating war in the Middle East also spooked markets.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 shed half a percent, with a decrease in Treasury yields helping limit the downside to some extent. The Dow inched up 0.1 percent after strong bank earnings.

European stocks fell notably on Friday on concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates following hawkish comments from Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey.

The pan European STOXX 600 fell 1 percent. The German DAX tumbled 1.6 percent, France's CAC 40 gave up 1.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 declined 0.6 percent.