Gift Nifty Points to Muted-to-Positive Opening for Indian Markets on Wednesday

Mumbai, Sept 23: Gift Nifty was seen trading marginally higher as markets in Asia opened mixed on Wednesday morning. Indian stock markets are likely to open muted to positive on Wednesday. While US stock markets closed mixed on Tuesday, Crude oil prices have seen a slight decline but are still elevated. US President Donald Trump stated at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he can annihilate Iran if they don’t come to a deal to end the almost seven-month long war. He said we have to let them either build a bigger and better country or wipe out the Islamic Republic fast. As the talk of annihilating Iran continued. An Iranian Official stated to Reuters that Iran could reopen the Strait Of Hormuz for ships coming from the gulf region within 7 days if US lifts its siege on Iran’s ports and eases the threat of war. This was sent to the US via intermediaries a week ago.  

All this came on a day packed with high level negotiations in New York. As US envoy Steve Witkoff mentioned that he spoke with Iranian officials through intermediaries for most of the day and hopes these talks will be fruitful. President Trump also sat with leaders from the Gulf countries who want ships to start flowing again in the strait. Trump stated that it could all end right after the mid-term elections or even before. Iranian Foreign Minister also had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Qatar. Who has been working towards de-escalation in the conflict for the past few months.  

Gift Nifty futures for expiry September 29 stood at 23,352.50, trading 24.50 points higher or 0.11 per cent as of 8.23 am on Wednesday. Indicating that the Indian stock markets may see a marginal rise once trading begins at 9.15 am. After Indian Stock Markets saw a fall yesterday with the Nifty closing at 23,329. Sensex was down around 330 points. With IT Stocks, Bank stocks and capital goods stocks dragging the index down. Despite Global Cues remaining positive.  

Iran War  

The Iranian Military called Trump’s comments at the UN General Assembly propaganda on Tuesday. Stating they are fully prepared to hit the aggressor with harsher blows and more unpredictably should an attack occur. Iranian Parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf who has been the head of the Iranian negotiation team in the past. Said Trump cannot dictate his power to the people and armed forces of Iran. Trump’s meeting with Gulf Countries discussed a plan by Qatar that would involve Iran and the Arabian countries to jointly have a security force. Which is being looked over by Iran. Oil Prices took some breather after Saudi Arabia resumed shipping through its East-West Pipeline which allows it to avoid the Strait Of Hormuz. They may begin exporting less quantities of oil out of Yanbu (Red Sea) within the next couple of hours.  

Asian & US Markets  

Markets in Asia opened mixed on Wednesday. Japanese stocks were trading 1.38 per cent higher with Taiwanese Stocks up 0.7 per cent. Korean stocks were marginally up 0.1 per cent. While Chinese Stocks fell 0.8 per cent. Shanghai and Shenzhen indices opened down 0.29 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. Singapore and Malaysian indices also started slightly lower. Giving no direction for the rest of Asia as they open. India’s own Nifty was flat before the start of the Indian Market similar to Gift Nifty.  

US Markets closed mixed on Tuesday. Nasdaq 100 closed up 0.82 per cent. While the NYSE Composite Index was down 0.24 per cent. Russell 2000 closed 0.51 per cent higher. Utilities and Dow Transportation Indices were down 0.24 per cent and 0.42 per cent respectively.  

Oil Prices  

Oil Prices dropped slightly more on Wednesday and are still at elevated levels. WTI Crude was trading 0.96 per cent lower at $89.65 per barrel and Brent crude was 0.58 per cent lower at $98.67 per barrel. After dropping 1.67 per cent on Tuesday to close at $98.66. Murban crude was trading 1.23 per cent lower at $108.67 per barrel. While Opec basket was down 4.50 per cent at $111.00 per barrel. Gas prices increased by 1.85 per cent and gas and heating oil continued to drop.  

Indian stock markets ended the day on Tuesday with losses as Global Cues remained positive. The Sensex ended the day 329.91 points lower at 74,529.08. Down 0.44 per cent from the previous day. It touched as low as 435.28 points lower during the day. Nifty closed the day at 23,329 which was 85.30 points or 0.36 per cent lower than the previous day. With IT, Financial and Capital Goods stocks falling. Bajaj Finserv, Trent, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma, TCS and Ultratech cement were among the biggest decliners. Eternal, InterGlobe Aviation, Titan and Tata Steel ended the day in the green. FIIs sold off Rs 576.20 crores worth of stocks on Monday. European markets ended higher on Tuesday and US stock markets ended sharply higher on Monday. The previous day saw the Sensex close 564.03 points or 0.76 per cent higher at 74,858.99. Nifty rose for the fourth consecutive day on Monday closing at 23,414.30.  

Source

• nseindia.com
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/tehran-hints-hormuz-talks-with-us-leaders-gather-un-2026-09-22/
• https://www.cnbc.com/markets/us-markets/
• OilPrice.com