A drop in the price of crude oil and expectations of a peace agreement between the US and Iran helped the Indian stock markets rise in early trading today. Amid purchases in real estate, banking, metal, consumer durables, and chemical sectors, the Sensex increased 0.56%, or 445 points, to reach an intraday high of 78,966, while the Nifty increased 0.48%, or 118 points, to 24,483. Buying activity was also observed in broader markets, with small-cap and mid-cap indexes seeing the biggest gains.
In the midst of Islamabad’s attempts to lift the US blockade of Iranian ports, there were reports that Iran is thinking about attending peace negotiations with the US in Pakistan. As fresh US-Iran tensions raised questions about the sustainability of a two-week ceasefire, Wall Street closed slightly lower in international markets, with key indices dropping after recording their third straight weekly gains. The Nasdaq dropped 64.09 points, or 0.26%, to 24,404.39, while the S&P 500 dropped 16.92 points, or 0.24%, to 7,109.14. The markets of Asia were diverse. While the Jakarta Composite and Shanghai Composite dropped by up to 1%, the Nikkei, Hang Seng, and KOSPI had increases of up to 2%.
