GIFT Nifty Futures Update: Domestic equity benchmarks are set to make a muted-to-negative start to the trading week on Monday, July 14, with GIFT Nifty futures–an early indicator of the 50-blue-chip index–inching lower at the last count ahead of the opening bell on Dalal Street. The sluggish pre-market signal for the Nifty 50 index comes amid largely negative moves across major Asian markets after a weak session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 279.1 points, or 0.6 per cent, to settle at 44,371.5.

What GIFT Nifty futures signal 

GIFT Nifty futures were down 14 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 25,177.5 at the last count, having declined as much as 42.4 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 25,181 earlier in the day. 

Earnings season begins

Investors await more of corporate earnings for India Inc for domestic cues after Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) kicked off a new results season on Dalal Street last week.  

How other Asian markets fare

Major Asian markets were in the red early on Monday, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan trading 0.1 per cent lower. 

While Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.4 per cent, China’s Shanghai Composite was up 0.4 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading flat while Taiwan’s TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) was down 0.5 per cent. 

Globally, investors remained on edge amid the latest round of trade tariff-related warnings from the US.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced his intent to impose a 30 per cent duty on most imports from the European Union and Mexico with effect from August 1. The EU said it would extend a suspension of countermeasures to US tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement.

The latest in the US-triggered tariff war comes as investors have become largely inured to Trump’s tariff policy methods.

From Dow Jones to Nasdaq, how Wall Street fared on July 11 

US stock market fell on Friday, with Meta weighing on the S&P 500 blue-chip index, after Trump intensified his tariff offensive against Canada. On Thursday, he said the US would impose a 35 per cent duty on imports next month and planned to impose blanket tariffs of 15 per cent or 20 per cent on most other trading partners.

The Dow Jones fell 279.1 points while the S&P 500 gave up 20.7 points, or 0.3 per cent, to end at 6,259.8 and the tech stocks-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 45.1 points, or 0.2 per cent, to settle at 20,585.5.

Among broader indices, the Russell 2000 plunged 1.3 per cent to end at 2,234.8.