Samsung Electronics reported a 19-fold surge in quarterly profit that beat expectations, but its shares still fell more than 5% in a single session. The drop added to selling pressure across Asian tech stocks, pushing South Korea’s KOSPI down 4% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged lower. Investors cited concerns over overly rapid AI chip capacity expansion, intensifying competition and stretched valuations. In contrast, U.S. semiconductor stocks rose, lifting both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to higher closes.

Ksheera Sagar has worked as a Market Research Analyst at LiveMint for the past four years, covering stocks, commodities and broader financial markets. He tracks daily market moves, corporate earnings, sector trends and macroeconomic developments. He has more than a decade of experience in financial services and has previously worked at several organisations, including J.P. Morgan.

India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said petrol and diesel prices could be reduced if Brent crude stays at current low levels for the next two to three months. Brent has fallen to around $70.37 a barrel, a four-year low, amid easing geopolitical tensions and the resumption of key shipping flows. Puri said state-run oil marketing companies are still working through higher-cost crude inventories bought earlier, delaying any retail price cuts.

Gold and silver prices on MCX rose in early trading on July 3 as weak U.S. jobs data eased expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve rate hikes. MCX gold August futures gained 1.40% to ₹1,47,800 per 10 grams, while MCX silver September contracts climbed 1.80% to ₹2,37,456 per kg. In the U.S., gold prices also rose more than 1% and were set for a first weekly gain in five weeks.

Major U.S. stock indexes rose after the latest nonfarm payrolls report came in weaker than expected, pushing Treasury yields lower. The report did not disclose the specific employment figures, but said the data’s softness prompted a repricing of expectations for the Federal Reserve’s policy path. That shift helped lift broad-based U.S. equity benchmarks.

Retail gold prices in India eased on 2 July, with 24K gold in New Delhi quoted at ₹144,340 per 10 grams, while MCX August gold futures were down 0.17% at ₹144,560 per 10 grams. Silver prices rose in the domestic bullion market, with MCX silver futures up 0.71% at ₹231,850 per kg. Brent crude futures fell 1.9% to $71.57 a barrel after U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. talks with Iran in Qatar were going well. A Nasdaq Composite drop overnight weighed on shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which fell sharply in early trading.

MCX gold August contracts slipped 0.21% to ₹1,44,124 per 10 grams in early trade, while MCX silver September contracts rose 0.54% to ₹2,31,630 per kg. The moves followed US data showing ADP private payrolls increased by 98,000 in June, below the 1,18,000 economists expected, and came alongside Federal Reserve officials’ remarks that inflation risks had eased. The dollar index held above 101, weighing on bullion demand for buyers using overseas currencies.

On July 1, gold and silver rallied after the June ADP private payrolls report came in below forecasts at 98,000 versus 118,000 expected. Comments from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh that inflation risks had moderated further reduced expectations for a July rate increase, with markets pricing a 65% probability of a September hike. The dollar index slipped to 101.3 as Comex gold futures rose $93 to $4,131 an ounce and silver gained $1.62 to $61.54 an ounce. MCX gold and silver futures also rebounded sharply.

Meta Platforms shares surged nearly 12% to $628 after Bloomberg reported the company is preparing to commercialise an AI cloud business, including selling AI computing power or hosting AI models for external customers. The effort would put Meta in more direct competition with Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure. Meta has signed multibillion-dollar AI chip deals with Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom, and is accelerating construction of large-scale data centres. The stock remains about 21% below its August 2025 record high of $796.