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Informist, Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

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Equity Alert: Indices may open lower as oil prices rise after Trump's comment

 

MUMBAI--0819 IST--Benchmark indices are expected to open lower as oil prices rose after US President Donald Trump in a televised address early Thursday said he expected the war with Iran to last another two to three weeks. Major equity indices across the Asia-Pacific and US stock futures slid after Trump's speech on the West Asia conflict. At 0814 IST, the June futures contract of Brent crude traded around $105 per barrel.   

 

"We will continue until our objectives are fully achieved. Thanks to the progress we've made, I can say we are on track to complete all of America's objectives shortly, very shortly," Trump said in a speech which many called an echo of his past statements. "We are going to hit them (Iran) extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to take them back to the stone ages," Trump said. "If during this period of time no deal is made, we have our eyes on key targets. If no deal is reached, we are going to hit every one of their electric generating plants very hard, and probably simultaneously," he added.

Trump also said allies who depend on the West Asia oil that transits through the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively shut since the war, should "go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves." He also called for countries to buy US oil instead. Energy shipments from the Gulf region have largely come to a standstill after Iran retaliated against the US-Israeli strikes by threatening to attack vessels that try to cross the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade waterway. 

Meanwhile, shortly after Trump concluded his remarks, in which he also claimed that Iran's military capabilities have been all-but crushed, the Israeli military said it detected Iranian missile launches, according to an Al Jazeera report. "Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat," the Israeli military said. 

 

The Gift Nifty is indicating a gap down opening for the domestic markets, said Vipin Kumaar, senior technical and derivatives analyst at Globe Capital Market. "We continue to maintain our 'sell on rise' trading approach until some decisive de-escalation measures comes out in Middle East (West Asia) war. On levels front, 22800-23200 will continue to act as immediate resistance (for the Nifty 50 index). On the lower side, the 22000-21700 spot zone will act as immediate support.  (Arya S. Biju)

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Equity Alert: US futures dn 1% as Trump threatens to hit Iran "extremely hard"

 

 

MUMBAI--0747 IST--US equity futures fell nearly 1% from its intraday high as Brent crude crossed $105 per barrel again after US President Donald Trump threated to attack Iran's energy infrastructure if Iran did not strike a deal. In a speech, Trump said he would attack Iran "extremely hard" over the next two-three weeks. 

 

All major Wall Street indices were up Wednesday after Trump had signalled that the war with Iran might be nearing its end. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had closed higher for the third straight session, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 ended with gains for the second straight session.

 

The Nasdaq outperformed its peers to end nearly 1.2% higher Wednesday. Technology giants Alphabet, Tesla supported the index. Intel Corp ended almost 9% higher after the company said it would buy 49% stake in Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion. Meanwhile, almost all key S&P 500 sectoral indices closed with gains, barring the energy-linked indices.

 

However, Trump's latest speech has hit sentiment and US futures suggest the market may open lower on Thursday. "Everybody's trying to guess as to what he (Donald Trump) really means by what he's saying. The markets want it to be positive, they want the war to be over," Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, told Reuters.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	46565.74	0.48
NASDAQ Composite	21840.947	1.16
Dow Jones Industrial Average	6575.32	0.72

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 94.83

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

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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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