Indian Shares Seen Higher As Israel And Iran Pause Strikes For Now

(RTTNews) - Indian shares are seen opening a tad higher on Tuesday, with easing tensions in West Asia and a rebound in global artificial intelligence-linked stocks likely to underpin investor sentiment somewhat at open.

Investors returned to risk assets after a halt in hostilities between Israel and Iran. The two countries agreed to halt attacks against each other following a series of mutual attacks from Sunday night, which marked the most serious escalation since the ceasefire in April.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that if Israel resumed its war with Iran, it could find itself fighting alone.

Iran has warned that it would resume strikes if Israel continued operations in Lebanon. Israel categorically rejected Iran's threats and said any Iranian attempt to link Lebanon and Iran and attack Israel will be met with great force.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty fell around 1 percent each on Monday as higher risk aversion in global markets overshadowed solid GDP data for the January-March period and the announcement of capital gains tax waiver on FII investments in government bonds.

The rupee settled 56 paise lower at 95.74 against the dollar, pressured by elevated crude oil prices amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 5,556 crore on Monday, while domestic institutional investors net bought shares to the extent of Rs 5,165 crore, as per provisional data on the exchange.

Asian markets were broadly higher this morning, with South Korea and Japan leading regional gains.