GIFT Nifty futures indicate muted market opening today; Asian markets show weakness

GIFT Nifty Futures: Dalal Street is set to make a muted start on Friday (first day of the June series) as Asian shares weak. At around 8:16 am, GIFT Nifty futures traded flat with a positive bias at 24,948.5.

In the previous session, in a highly choppy trade on the weekly and monthly expiry, headline indices after showcasing intraday weakness ended higher, with Nifty50 index ending higher by 0.33 per cent or 81.15 points at 24,833.6, while the BSE Sensex added 320.7 points or 0.39 per cent to 81,633.02.

Bank Nifty also gained 0.23 per cent to 55,546.05. Sectorally, only the FMCG and PSU Bank gauges ended in the red.

Asian markets

Asian markets in early trade on Friday (May 30, 2025) traded on a weak note mirroring losses in the Wall Street market in the overnight trade. The market sentiment also was impacted amid uncertainty around legal actions on tariffs as well as concerns over economic state of the US.

The key MSCI Asia ex Japan index was down 0.49 per cent or 2.99 at 610.67.

From MSCI’s Asia Pacific ex-Japan to Nikkei 225, how other major Asian markets fare 

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was last seen trading 0.3 per cent higher roughly an hour before the pre-market session on Dalal Street. The positive move was in contrast with overnight losses on Wall Street.

Here’s where some of the main gauges in the region stood:

China’s Shanghai Composite: up 0.5 per cent
Singapore’s Straits Times: down 0.2 per cent
Japan’s Nikkei 225: up 1.7 per cent 
South Korea’s KOSPI: up 1.7 per cent
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng: up 0.4 per cent

Investors cheered the headlines as an American federal court ruling restricted US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal “Liberation Day” tariffs from taking effect, triggering a wave of optimism across Asia as investors cheered easing of trade-related concerns.

The back and forth following Trump’s trade policy followed by pauses and U-turns, as well as retaliatory action by America’s major trade partners has kept investors on their toes globally for the past few weeks. 

Wall Street Update | Dow Jones, Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, Russell 2000

Dow Jones futures surged after the news, last seen trading 605.8 points, or 1.4 per cent, higher at 42,704.5, though Wall Street gauges fell in the last trading session. 

On Wednesday, Wall Street benchmarks amid across-the-board selling after the Fed released minutes from the last FOMC policy review. Utility, material, energy, consumer discretionary and financial shares were at the forefront of the sell-off. 

Here’s how the main indices fared: 

Dow Jones: down 0.6 per cent
S&P 500: down 0.6 per cent
Nasdaq Composite: down 0.5 per cent
Russell 2000: down 1.1 per cent