Gift Nifty Points to a Muted Start for Indian Stocks on Tuesday

Mumbai, Sept 22: Indian stocks are likely to open flat on Tuesday as the Gift Nifty was seen in the red. Crude oil prices rose while Asian stocks were positive and US stocks were closed mixed on Monday. Houthi rebels continued to try to capture high ground in Yemen’s Taiz and Lahij provinces on Monday and aim to isolate the Red Sea coast from what remains under government control. US strikes on the Houthis were cancelled at the last minute by US President Donald Trump as reported by New York Times on Sunday.  

The Gift Nifty which expires on Sept 29 was at 23,492 points down by 43.50 points or 0.18 per cent as of 8.30 am on Tuesday. This indicates Indian stocks to start weak on Tuesday at 9.15 am. Monday Indian cash market saw a big jump after the Sensex and Nifty broke their six week losing streak. The longest such streak in the last six years.  

Iran War  

Efforts to broker a peace deal on the larger Iran war have failed after the ceasefire between US and Iran in June did not hold. Fighting in Yemen is now part of a larger war started by US and Israel against Iran in February known as Operation Epic Fury. The US has not agreed to get involved in the war with the Houthis despite Saudi Arabia asking them to. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will arrive in New York on Tuesday to participate in the UN General Assembly. Saudi Arabia was hit on Saturday for the first time since the war began. Bombs were reported to be detonated near the airport but Saudi Arabia has not confirmed this.  

Asian & US Markets  

Asian markets opened higher on Tuesday with the Korean Kospi leading the pack at 1.76 per cent. Japanese Nikkei was up 1.38 per cent. Chinese markets were also higher with Hang Seng up 0.65 per cent and Taiwan index higher by 1.06 per cent. Mainland China was positive with Shanghai and Shenzhen up 0.3 per cent and 0.89 per cent respectively. Asian markets opened higher despite India’s Nifty 50 index being flat in pre market trading.  

US stocks finished mixed on Monday. The Nasdaq 100 was up by 2.83 per cent while NYSE Composite was up 0.37 per cent. Utilities index declined by 0.7 per cent and the Dow Jones transport index was lower by 0.54 per cent. The Russell 2000 was higher by 0.52 per cent. Some select names led the charge in US on Monday.  

Crude Oil 

Crude oil prices were higher on Tuesday. WTI crude was trading at $93.07 up by 0.76 per cent. Brent crude was up 1.00 per cent at $101.34. Murban crude plunged by 6.70 per cent to $110.02 and the Opec basket was down 2.49 per cent at $116.23. Oil prices were kept in check by increased usage of strait of hormuz by Saudi Arabia. The strait is carrying 2.9 million barrels of oil per day as opposed to 700,000 barrels in August. US diesel price reached a record high.  

Indian indices ended Monday much higher after six weeks of decline. The Sensex gained 564.03 points or 0.76 per cent to close at 74,858.99. The Nifty rose by 67.90 points or 0.29 per cent to close at 23,414.30 points. Pharma and Realty were among the top gaining sectors with Nifty pharma up 1.16 per cent and Nifty Realty up 1.14 per cent. Nifty metal was down by 0.6 per cent. Bharti Airtel fell 3.3 per cent to top the list of decliners in the Nifty. There were more stocks falling than rising with 1,995 stocks up and 2,111 stocks down. The Nifty Midcap 100 index and Nifty Smallcap 100 index ended lower by 0.29 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively. FPIs bought Indian stocks worth Rs 600 crore on Friday. This is after selling for six consecutive days. NSE IPO raised $2.3 billion on Monday. It will continue to suck out money from the cash market.  

Source

•  nseindia.com
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/houthis-push-control-yemen-highlands-trump-reported-have-called-off-airstrikes-2026-09-21/
• https://www.cnbc.com/markets/us-markets/
• https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/