India’s equity benchmarks are set to open higher on Monday, buoyed by cooling Russian oil supply concerns after a meeting between the U.S. and Russian Presidents and New Delhi’s proposed goods and services tax reforms.
Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,984 as of 8:46 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open about 1.4% above Thursday’s close of 24,631.3.
Indian markets were closed on Friday for a holiday.
Following his meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump appeared more aligned with Moscow on seeking a Ukraine peace deal instead of a ceasefire first.
Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders on Monday to hammer out details of possible security guarantees for Kyiv, though actual proposals are vague as yet.
Oil prices slipped after the U.S. refrained from imposing new measures to curb Russian oil exports, following Trump-Putin’s Friday meeting.
Meanwhile, Trump said on Friday he did not need to consider retaliatory tariffs yet on countries buying Russian oil, such as China, but might “in two or three weeks”, easing fears of supply disruption.
China, the world’s biggest oil importer, is the largest buyer of Russian oil, followed by India. A fall in prices is positive for importers of the commodity, such as India.
Separately, shares of car makers could rise after Reuters reported the government proposed lowering the GST on small cars to 18% from 28%.
Alongside easing worries over Russian oil imports, the Indian government’s announcement of sweeping tax reforms to boost the economy amid the trade conflict with the U.S. also boosted sentiment, analysts said.
The S&P Global’s ratings upgrade, reiterating India’s macro stability, is also likely to aid risk sentiment.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) offloaded Indian stocks worth 19.27 billion rupees ($220.2 million) on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased stocks worth 38.96 billion rupees, taking their buying streak to 29 sessions.
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