_Markets open today_
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📊 *ECONOMY & POLICY*
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⚡ *Saudi Arabia’s biggest crude cut in 26 years*
Saudi Aramco slashed its Arab Light price for Asian buyers by $11/barrel, its steepest monthly cut in over two decades.
Lower feedstock costs should widen refining margins for Indian OMCs, though the relief is being offset by a fresh Hormuz risk premium.
📎 _Read: India TV News_
🏦 *NBFC gold loans surge 70%, fastest of any segment*
Gold-backed lending by NBFCs jumped 69.9% YoY to ₹3.29 lakh crore in May, RBI data shows, well ahead of overall 14.2% NBFC credit growth.
Signals strong retail cash-flow stress and a booming secured-lending niche for gold-loan NBFCs.
📎 _Read: Business Standard_
📉 *China’s share of India’s auto-component imports climbs to 36%*
ACMA data shows India logged its first auto-component trade deficit in two years in FY26, with China now the single largest import source.
Underlines continuing supply-chain dependence on China for EV and electronics components despite Make-in-India pushes.
📎 _Read: BizzBuzz_
💡 *FM: India’s toy imports down 71% since 2019, exports to 153 countries*
Sitharaman said targeted duty hikes and BIS enforcement cut toy imports sharply, while urging industry to aim beyond the current $5bn-by-2034 goal.
A domestic-manufacturing success story policymakers are keen to replicate elsewhere.
📎 _Read: Business Standard_
🤝 *France nudges India to prioritise rare-earth processing over mining*
A French official said India should build refining and processing capacity before its domestic rare-earth mines ramp up, offering tech, financing and research tie-ups.
Relevant as India races to cut China dependence in magnets critical to EVs and defence.
📎 _Read: Equitywizards_
https://www.equitywizards.com/2026/07/prioritise-rare-earth-processing-before.html
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🏢 *COMPANIES*
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📉 *Trent crashes 12% as Zudio growth undershoots Street*
Trent’s Q1 standalone revenue rose 19% YoY to ₹5,666 crore, below the ~22-23% the Street wanted, with revenue-per-square-foot falling.
Citi holds its Sell call; valuation (still 90x+ earnings) left almost no room for a growth miss.
📎 _Read: CNBC_
📈 *Titan’s consumer business grows 41% on jewellery strength*
Titan’s Q1 update showed a sharp jump in consumer-facing revenue on festival demand and 77 new store additions, with North America and GCC posting double-digit growth.
Stock advanced on the update, a rare bright spot on a red trading day.
📎 _Read: Economic Times_
💰 *Adani Defence breaks ground on ₹2,500-crore missile hub in MP*
The Shivpuri facility integrates propellant/TNT production with missile assembly — South Asia’s largest private defence-manufacturing ecosystem, creating 5,000 jobs.
Positions Adani as a serial-production partner for DRDO’s NGARM, RUDRAM-II and NASM-SR programmes.
📎 _Read: BusinessToday_
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🌍 *GLOBAL & WORLD*
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🔥 *US strikes Iran after Hormuz tanker attacks; oil jumps 3%*
Iran hit three tankers (Saudi, Qatari) near Hormuz; the US revoked Iran’s oil-sale waiver and launched retaliatory strikes on Iranian air defences overnight.
A fragile ceasefire is fraying just as Saudi crude got cheaper — a fresh volatility risk for India’s import bill.
📎 _Read: Business Standard_
🤝 *Modi seals ~$630mn BrahMos, Astra missile deals with Indonesia*
India will supply BrahMos cruise missiles and Astra air-to-air missiles to Jakarta, making Indonesia the third BrahMos export customer after the Philippines and Vietnam.
A concrete win for India’s defence-export ambitions during Modi’s Indo-Pacific tour.
📎 _Read: MoneyControl_
🤝 *Australia set to sign Fiji security pact, finalise India uranium deal*
Alongside a new Fiji defence pact, Australia and India are expected to close a long-pending commercial uranium-export agreement as Modi visits Melbourne (July 8-10).
Would operationalise a 2014 framework and support India’s civil nuclear expansion.
📎 _Read: MoneyControl_
💻 *China’s DeepSeek building its own AI chip to cut Nvidia reliance*
DeepSeek has spent about a year developing an in-house inference chip, joining OpenAI, Google and Anthropic in reducing dependence on third-party silicon.
Nvidia shares dipped ~1.6% in premarket trade on the report.
📎 _Read: TechStartups_
💻 *Anthropic brings Claude Cowork to mobile and web*
Claude’s agentic work tool is expanding beyond desktop to iPhone, iPad, Android and the browser, with doubled usage limits extended through August 5.
Anthropic says over 90% of Cowork usage is everyday knowledge work rather than coding.
📎 _Read: Claude by Anthropic_
https://claude.com/blog/cowork-web-mobile
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_Compiled by InvestoScope · 08 Jul 2026_