INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares set to open lower after Trump ramps up Iran threat

April 2 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks are poised to open lower on Thursday, tracking weakness across broader Asian peers, after U.S. President Donald Trump stopped short of outlining a roadmap to end the Iran war.

GIFT Nifty futures GIFc1 were trading at 22,359, as of 7:41 a.m. IST, indicating that the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI will open below Wednesday's close of 22,679.40 points.

Other Asian markets .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 1.2% after Trump said Washington's "core strategic objectives" in the Iran war were nearing completion. However, he did not provide a clear outlook on when the conflict would end.

Trump's comments that the U.S. will strike Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks also intensified near-term geopolitical anxiety and drove crude oil prices higher.

Brent crude LCOc1 climbed 4% to about $105 per barrel. O/R

Foreign portfolio investors (FPI) offloaded shares worth 83.31 billion rupees ($893.83 million) on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought stocks worth 71.72 billion rupees, according to NSE's provisional data.

In the previous session, the Nifty 50 and Sensex .BSESN indexes gained about 1.6% each, in line with a global rally sparked by expectations of a de-escalation in the Iran war.

STOCKS TO WATCH

Karnataka Bank KBNK.NS says its gross advances rose 6.9% year-on-year and provisional deposits were up 3.8%, as of March-end

Pace Digitek PACD.NS secures EPC order from NTPC worth 4.95 billion rupees for the implementation of a 200 MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Bihar

Hero MotoCorp HROM.NS posts 24% dispatch growth in the March quarter, while total two-wheeler sales rose 8.8% in March

NMDC NMDC.NS says total iron ore production surged 51% to 5.35 MT in the March quarter while sales rose 40%

($1 = 93.2060 Indian rupees)