Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) shares rose nearly 2% in early trade on Friday after GE Aerospace delivered three F404-IN20 engines in August, taking total deliveries for the Tejas Mk1A programme to 10. Engine supply had been a key bottleneck for the project. Goldman Sachs maintained its Buy rating on HAL with a target price of 5,870 rupees. The Indian Air Force has ordered 180 LCA Mk1A jets from HAL, while GE is required to deliver 99 engines under a 2021 contract.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian equities on September 1, with net purchases of Rs 1,143 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought a net Rs 1,847 crore. The Nifty 50 slipped 0.1% to 24055.80 and the Sensex eased 0.02% to 76944.28. Brent crude rose above $92 a barrel and higher global bond yields weighed on risk appetite amid renewed USIran tensions. India’s Q1 GDP growth of 7.8% offered some support, though crude prices, geopolitics and foreign flows remained key drivers.

Gold fell more than 1% on August 31 after a hawkish inflation message from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole remarks prompted profit-taking. COMEX gold futures slid 1.23% to $4,474.30 an ounce, while silver fell 1.71%. Gold dropped nearly 3% on Friday, its sharpest one-day decline in weeks. A stronger dollar and higher U.S. Treasury yields weighed on bullion, though geopolitical tensions and inflation concerns continued to provide some underlying support.

HDFC Bank shares rose nearly 3% in early trade on August 31 as investors focused on an upcoming leadership transition. Reports said the board is considering former State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Khara to take over as MD and CEO. Jefferies kept its buy rating but cut its target price and lowered earnings forecasts, while IIFL said the incumbent CEO’s decision to step down is neutral to modestly positive as it removes uncertainty tied to regulatory approval.

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation is not meaningfully slowing and stressed policymakers must be confident it is moving toward the Fed’s 2% target, or the central bank still has “work to do.” After the remarks, short-term U.S. Treasury yields jumped and markets lifted the implied probability of a September rate hike to above 50%. Risk assets came under pressure, pulling bitcoin back below $80,000.

India’s domestic gold discount has widened sharply after Moneycontrol reported that the government is discussing cutting import duties on gold and silver from 15% to 6%. Physical buyers have delayed purchases while waiting for policy clarity, dragging down spot demand. The discount to international benchmark pricing had been about 2%–2.5% and has since widened by another 1–1.5 percentage points, with the shift largely driven by speculation as no final decision has been taken.

Jack Ma has recently bought more than HK$600 million of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. stock. Chairman Joe Tsai and Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu also increased their holdings, together purchasing at least $25 million worth of shares. The buying followed Alibaba’s HK$80 billion share placement in Hong Kong and its pledge to spend more than 380 billion yuan over three years on AI, spanning chips, data centers and large language model development.

Copper prices have pulled back after hitting a six-month high near $14,310 a tonne in August, with LME three-month copper settling 1.2% lower on Tuesday at $13,986.50 a tonne as the spot premium narrowed sharply. The pullback followed a jump in metal delivered into LME warehouses, lifting readily available inventories and reducing the market’s willingness to pay for immediate supply. Longer term, S&P Global forecasts global copper demand could rise about 50% to roughly 42 million tonnes by 2040, potentially leaving a 10 million-tonne supply shortfall. Construction, industrial uses and infrastructure remain the largest demand drivers.

Tight sugar supplies in India have pushed domestic prices sharply higher, lifting sugar stocks even as the broader market weakened. On its Q1 FY27 earnings call, Balrampur Chini said the 2025-26 sugar season was tighter than expected due to lower-than-expected output, healthy domestic consumption and diversion of sugarcane toward ethanol, which drew down inventories. The government is considering steps to boost supplies and curb inflation ahead of the festival season.