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Gold Rush: Ukraine war pushes up global prices to $2K

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Inflationary fears triggered a rush for safe haven investments during the ongoing market volatility that pushed up the global gold price to $2,000 per ounce on Monday.

Accordingly, the fears of supply shortages due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict along with robust demand has kept prices higher.

Besides, sanctions on Russia, which is a major producer of Gold, is expected to reduce the supply.

Last week, MCX gold prices increased sharply by 4.66 per cent to Rs 52,559 levels.

Besides, ‘Spot Gold’ prices increased by 4.30 per cent to $1,970.35 per ounce.

Notably, gold prices have increased by more than $40, accelerating a well-defined upward trend that began in the first week of March.

“Gold has risen above $2,000 an ounce on increased demand for safe-haven assets as investors assess the geopolitical and economic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” said Kshitij Purohit, Lead of Commodities and Currencies CapitalVia Global Research.

“There are numerous reasons to believe that gold will rise, not the least of which are geopolitical concerns. The crisis in Ukraine continues to produce a lot of anxiety, and as a result, people have been flocking to safety assets.”

According to Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities: “The yellow metal rallied on geopolitical risk and inflation worries as Western world is mulling for harsher sanctions on Russia, including oil import ban.”

“We expect gold prices to trade up for the day with ‘COMEX’ Spot gold support at $1970 and resistance at $2,050 per ounce. MCX Gold April futures resistance at Rs 54,000 and support at Rs 52,800 per 10 gram.”

In addition, IIFL Securities VP, Research, Anuj Gupta said: “Geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine plays a supportive role for gold prices, however this environment is negative for global equity markets.”

“In spot gold may test $2,050 and Silver $27 levels very soon.”

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L&T Technology Services bags over $75 million five-year deal from global tech enterprise

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New Delhi : Larsen & Toubro Technology Services (LTTS) on Wednesday said it has won a five-year contract worth more than $75 million from a leading global technology enterprise.

In a regulatory filing, the company said the engagement will involve deploying its Engineering Intelligence (EI) capabilities across the client’s product development and engineering lifecycle.

In addition, the deal will cover product engineering, software development, testing and validation, sustenance engineering, platform operations and other digital engineering services, LTTS said.

Under the engagement, the company will also use its suite of Engineering Intelligence solutions to establish a dedicated engineering centre for the client’s technology and digital functions.

However, it did not disclose the name of the client — citing contractual obligations. It said the contract was awarded by an international entity and would be executed over a period of five years.

The latest order comes as LTTS continues to expand its engineering and artificial intelligence capabilities across global markets.

Moreover, the company had reported a 17.4 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 352 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year. While revenue during the quarter rose 11.5 per cent to Rs 2,940 crore.

However, on a constant-currency basis revenue growth stood at 1.9 per cent, compared with 12.8 per cent in the corresponding period last year.

LTTS last week also announced the launch of AgenticIQ, an end-to-end agentic artificial intelligence platform aimed at enabling engineering and manufacturing companies to deploy autonomous AI agents at scale.

Shares of LTTS on Wednesday traded at Rs 3,517.65 apiece on the BSE in early deals.

LTTS is a subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro and provides engineering research and development and digital engineering services to customers across industries.

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PM Modi to inaugurate fifth edition of ‘SEMICON India’ on Sept 17

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New Delhi, Aug 18: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the fifth edition of SEMICON India 2026 on September 17 here as India seeks to accelerate the development of its domestic semiconductor ecosystem, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The three-day conference and exhibition — themed Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem — will be held between September 17 and September 19 and is being jointly organised by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) — under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) — and global industry association SEMI, the ministry said.

The event is expected to bring together policymakers, global semiconductor companies, industry executives, researchers, academics, start-ups and students to discuss developments across the semiconductor and electronics value chain.

In addition, the Centre recently approved Semicon 2.0 to strengthen the country’s semiconductor manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities.

The government said it is also supporting semiconductor research, innovation and design through access to advanced design tools for more than 332 academic institutions and 105 start-ups.

Moreover, 24 start-ups have been approved under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme.

However, India’s semiconductor ambitions have gained momentum under the Semicon India Programme with 12 projects approved under Semicon 1.0 to help build a domestic semiconductor ecosystem, according to the ministry.

S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, said the 2026 edition comes at a significant stage in India’s semiconductor journey, noting that three of the 12 projects approved under Semicon 1.0 have commenced commercial production.

“The announcement of Semicon 2.0 with six major pillars further strengthens India’s commitment to build a robust and resilient semiconductor ecosystem,” he said.

Ajit Manocha, President and Chief Executive Officer of SEMI, said India is well positioned to expand its role in the global semiconductor industry through its talent pool, policy support and long-term vision.

Ashok Chandak, President of SEMI India and IESA, said the event reflects India’s efforts to build a comprehensive semiconductor value chain and has become a key platform for collaboration among industry leaders, policymakers, investors and researchers.

Additionally, the exhibition is expected to feature more than 500 exhibitors, including over 240 international companies, with delegations from more than 40 countries.

According to the ministry, the event will also include six country pavilions, 10 state government pavilions, a start-up pavilion, innovation showcase, start-up pitch competition, student hackathon and workforce development pavilion.

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Sensex plunges 493 points, Nifty falls 133 points amid global tensions

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Mumbai, Aug 18: The benchmark indices extended their losses on Tuesday, with the Sensex and Nifty coming under pressure amid heightened geopolitical tensions and weakness in key sectors.

The Sensex fell 493 points, or 0.63 per cent, to 77,235.46, while the Nifty declined 132.75 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 24,154.90.

Commenting on technical outlook, the 24,300 zone is likely to act as the immediate resistance.

“A sustained move above 24,300 could help stabilise the structure and support a recovery towards the 24,400–24,500 region. However, failure to reclaim this level could keep recovery attempts vulnerable to selling pressure,” an analyst stated.

“On the downside, 24,150 remains the immediate support level. A decisive break below 24,150 could intensify selling pressure and drag the index towards the 24,000 psychological mark,” as per the market expert.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Asian Paints and Infosys emerged as the top losers among Nifty constituents. The broader market also remained under pressure, with the Nifty MidCap index declining 0.43 per cent, while the Nifty SmallCap index ended flat.

Sectorally, Nifty IT, Nifty Realty and Nifty PSU Bank were among the biggest drags on the benchmark indices. In contrast, the Nifty Auto index emerged as the top-performing sector during the session.

Experts said that the market sentiment remained cautious as investors assessed the impact of ongoing geopolitical tensions, with selling pressure in IT, realty and PSU banking stocks weighing on the overall market.

“Although domestic fundamentals continue to be supportive, sustained high crude prices and rising input costs could pressure recent earnings upgrades, prompting investors to remain cautious in the near term,” as per the market expert.

Meanwhile, Rupee traded largely flat near 95.67, but the broader weakness continues as the currency faces hurdles in sustaining strength.

“The rupee is expected to trade in the 95.25–95.85 range in the near term,” a market expert noted.

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