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Informist, Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: US indices climb as tech stocks rise, oil prices ease

 

MUMBAI--0741 IST--US equity indices ended higher on Monday, propelled by a rise in stocks of artificial intelligence-focused companies such as, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla. All major indices rose around 1%, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite being the highest gainer. A modest fall in oil prices on Monday also helped sentiment on Wall Street even as the situation in West Asia remains unclear.

 

Shares of Meta rose over 2?ter Reuters reported the social media giant would trim its workforce by at least 20% to make room for AI-related expenses. The company has claimed the report to be "speculative", Bloomberg reported. Shares of Nvidia rose over 1% on Monday as the chipmaker announced new chips at its annual GTC conference. Tesla's shares also rose over 1% on Monday after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the company would launch its AI chipmaking project in seven days, Reuters reported.

 

Apart from gains in technology stocks, indices were also helped by a modest fall in the price of Brent Crude oil, which has soared past $100 per barrel since the US-Iran war began. The prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, has led to disruption to global oil supply. On Monday, crude oil prices fell after the US said it would allow Iranian oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "The Iranian ships have been getting out already, and we've let that happen to supply the rest of the world," in an interview with CNBC on Monday. He also said oil prices should fall "much lower" than $80 per barrel after the US-Iran war is over, though he did not clarify when that would be.

 

Investors also keenly await the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting ending Wednesday, where higher energy prices are likely to be a key concern. The Fed is expected to keep interest rates steady and traders have pushed back their expectations for an interest rate cut of at least 25 basis points beyond October, Reuters reported, citing LSEG-compiled data. Earlier, they had expected a rate cut in July.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Monday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6699.38	1.01
NASDAQ Composite	22374.178	1.22
Dow Jones Industrial Average	46946.41	0.83

 

(Shruti Nair)

 

US$1 = INR 92.42

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

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