Gold has risen nearly 60% since the last Akshaya Tritiya, pushing the metal to the center of portfolio conversations ahead of this year's festival buying season. The surge reflects a confluence of drivers: sustained central bank accumulation, elevated sovereign debt levels globally, and geopolitical risk premiums tied to tensions in the Middle East, including uncertainty around Iran. Those structural buyers have provided a durable floor under prices that short-term sentiment swings have struggled to break. The near-term picture, however, is less straightforward. Interest rate uncertainty remains a live variable, gold carries no yield, so its relative appeal compresses when rate expectations firm. The path to further gains by 2027 depends heavily on whether central bank buying continues at current pace and whether geopolitical risk premiums persist or unwind. For buyers entering around Akshaya Tritiya, the practical question is sizing: gold reads more cleanly as a portfolio hedge than a momentum trade at current levels, with structural tailwinds intact but near-term upside contingent on macro variables outside any single investor's forecast range.
Indian startups raised $5.2 billion across 501 deals in H1 2026, down 9% in value but up 7% in deal count year-on-year, per the Inc42 Indian Tech Startup Funding Report. The drop is driven by fewer mega-rounds, while AI funding surged 317% and growth-stage deal activity hit a multi-year high.
The BSE Sensex fell 893 points and the Nifty 50 shed 279 points on June 30, 2026, wiping out roughly Rs 6 lakh crore in investor wealth in a single session. Both indices dropped 1.16%, closing at 76,200.68 and 23,824.10 respectively.
Kotak Mahindra Bank shares fell nearly 3% to Rs 397.6 after CEO Ashok Vaswani announced plans to exit the bank. Investor concern now centres on succession timing and whether the bank's ongoing digital and deposit-growth strategy will stay on track.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 3% at Monday's open while Japan's Nikkei fell 1%, as escalating US-Iran conflict triggered a broad risk-off move across Asian markets. South Korea's heavy reliance on Middle East oil imports makes it especially vulnerable to geopolitical shocks of this kind.
