Six major brokerages — Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Bank of America Securities, Nomura, Jefferies and ICICI Direct — have identified a group of 75 Indian stocks they believe are best positioned to lead the market in 2026 if macro conditions improve after a weak year for equities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended a formal invitation to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali to attend two major events that India will host in 2026: the AI Impact Summit in February and the BRICS Summit later in the year, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman warned on Wednesday that global trade is increasingly being “weaponised” through tariffs and other restrictive measures, signaling a shift in how international commerce is being conducted.

As the global auto industry nears 2026, the electric vehicle (EV) transition is facing growing headwinds from shifting policies and cooling consumer demand, prompting carmakers and governments to rethink earlier aggressive electrification strategies.

Qatar is leveraging its abundant and low-cost energy resources to accelerate its entry into the Gulf’s artificial intelligence race, aiming to narrow the gap with regional leaders such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

OpenAI, Google and **Perplexity have launched an unprecedented competition in India by offering free and heavily subsidised AI services to attract users and gather valuable multilingual training data, according to Reuters.

Mutual fund managers maintained a cautious investment stance in November even as benchmark indices touched record highs, choosing to be selective rather than broadly aggressive with equity exposure.

Oil prices climbed sharply on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, a move that added fresh geopolitical risk to global energy markets already grappling with weak demand.

Gold prices rose on Wednesday after U.S. labour market data showed that the unemployment rate climbed in November, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates in the future and weakening the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar hovered near its lowest level in about two and a half months after recently released labour market data showed the U.S. jobs market was softer than expected, leaving investors unsure about the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate move.