Gold prices experienced an uptick on Tuesday, fueled by news of Treasury buybacks. The market's focus is now on significant U.S. inflation data and a forthcoming address from the Fed Chair. Analysts are eager for indications regarding interest rates and bond yields. Citi has upgraded its gold price projections, suggesting a likely easing of geopolitical tensions and a decline in real interest rates.

India’s 2026 monsoon has been below average and unevenly distributed, putting major rainfed belts in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other states under acute rainfall stress. That pattern raises the risk of crop- and region-specific yield losses in tur, soybean and maize rather than a broad-based nationwide output collapse. Inflation data underscore the sensitivity: retail CPI rose to 4.45% in July 2026 and food inflation reached 5.52%. The combination has intensified concerns about potential food-supply disruptions and related price pressures.

Indian equities closed slightly lower, with the Nifty50 ending at 24,219, down 33 points. The government plans to sell up to 6% in Hindustan Copper through an offer for sale at a roughly 10% discount. Tata Consultancy Services said Porsche AG has signed a five-year strategic deal with MHP and TCS valued at €1.25 billion. ICICI Bank priced $1 billion senior unsecured notes.

Thailand’s baht and gold prices rose to their highest levels in nearly three months as sentiment toward the U.S. dollar stayed weak. The U.S. Treasury’s debt buyback operation failed to ease market worries about rising national debt and persistent fiscal deficits, leaving the dollar hovering near multi-month lows. The baht touched 32.85 per dollar on Monday, while spot gold climbed to $4,346.36 an ounce, its highest since mid-May.

AUB Group reported FY26 underlying net profit after tax (NPAT) of A$224.6 million, up 12% year on year. The company raised its fully franked final dividend to 71 cents per share, taking the full-year dividend to 98 cents, up 7.7%. Underlying earnings per share increased to 183.69 cents. Leverage remained at 2.30x, with A$330.5 million of accessible liquidity at period end.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington is expanding secondary sanctions that could pressure entities and countries that continue doing business with Iran. Markets largely shrugged off the announcement, and oil prices fell more than $2 a barrel. Brent settled at $US92.17 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate ended at $US85.01.

Billionaire heirs to Brown-Forman, the company behind Jack Daniel’s, have erupted into a public family dispute as an unsolicited $15 billion cash offer from rival Sazerac looms. Brothers W.L. Lyons Brown III and Stuart Brown accused the board of “rewarding failure,” saying the stock slid from the mid-$70s per share to the mid-$20s per share over the past three years, wiping out billions in family wealth. The company also cut 12% of its workforce last year and shut its Louisville cooperage. The Wall Street Journal reported the brothers circulated their claims in a July 10 letter to more than 130 relatives.

Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted nine people over the illegal export of high-end AI servers to mainland China, including staff from Nvidia and Super Micro. Prosecutors said the servers carried B300 graphics processing units that are banned from sale to China, with some shipments routed via Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong. The case comes as U.S.-China controls on AI chip exports continue to tighten, underscoring compliance risks for companies operating in the supply chain.