Gift Nifty Points to Weak Opening for Sensex, Nifty on Thursday; Iran War Widens as Asian, US Markets Fall

Mumbai: Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty are likely to open lower on Thursday tracking heavy fall in Asian and US markets amid widening Iran-US conflict after fresh attacks from US on Iran overnight despite some recovery in crude prices from previous day’s high volatility. Gift Nifty futures were trading negative before the opening bell on Thursday indicating a cautious investor sentiment among traders as more nations joined the five-month-old war between Iran and US.  

Gift Nifty near-month contract August 25, 2026 contract slipped down by 65 points or 0.27 per cent to trade at 24,219.00 at 07:57 am on Thursday signaling a weak start for Sensex and Nifty at the opening bell at 9:15 am today. The fall in the benchmark tracker comes after heavy sell-off on Wall Street overnight and weak trading session on Asian indices today are likely to impact the Indian market sentiment at open.  

Iran War 

US military stated overnight that it had launched fresh attacks on Iran early Wednesday as “powerful blow” in retaliation to Tehran’s attempted strikes on American forces on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump had promised a tough American response hours before the attack on Iran and vowed that the conflict would continue until the two countries sign a peace deal. Iran confirmed it had targeted US bases in neighbouring Jordan overnight. It had also said its forces struck a few vessels that were trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also rejected an offer by Oman to co-patrol the Strait of Hormuz. Iraq, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have now joined Iran-US conflict as both countries unleashed attacks on each other’s allies with US and Saudi forces launching strikes on Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq overnight.  

Asian Markets on Thursday Morning 

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.22 per cent while Australia’s S&P ASX 200 lost 0.57 per cent during morning session on Thursday as Asian investors reacted to overnight flare-up in Middle East oil-rich region. Indonesia’s JSX Composite declined 0.64 per cent and Pakistan’s KSE 100 shed 0.89 per cent extending declines across Asian board while Japan’s Nikkei 225 bucked the regional downtrend by jumping 1.28 per cent on Thursday. Shanghai Composite shed 0.28 per cent during early deals.  

US Markets on Wednesday 

On Wall Street, Dow Jones Industrial Average crashed 1,153.18 points or down 2.19 per cent, snapping five days of gains to settle at its lowest since July 29, while Nasdaq Composite shed 1.74 per cent and S&P 500 lost 1.52 per cent on Wednesday. NYSE dropped 1.18 per cent while Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite ended 1.16 per cent lower. European markets erased early gains to move lower in cautious trading.  

Oil Prices 

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate futures traded lower at $83.93 a barrel, down by 56 cents or 0.66 per cent. International Brent crude futures slipped $1.29 to trade at $89.45 a barrel, down by 1.42 per cent on Thursday. Both benchmarks pared gains despite Iranian attacks on tankers in Red Sea as commodity tanker transits through Bab el-Mandeb Straits on Tuesday jumped to their highest since July 19 indicating steady movement of oil shipments from Middle East amid five-month long conflict between Iran and US. Brent crude prices rose as much as 7.91 per cent while WTI climbed upto 6.56 per cent higher on Wednesday.  

Indian Markets on Wednesday 

Indian equity benchmarks had settled sharply higher on Wednesday tracking broad-based buying across IT, metal, pharma, banking and FMCG stocks ahead of Fed rate decision due later today. Sensex climbed 888.68 points or 1.16 per cent to close at 77,654.60 while Nifty 50 jumped 264.85 points or 1.10 per cent to settle at 24,250.20 on Wednesday. Around 2,460 shares advanced on NSE against 1,597 declines while 177 remained unchanged showing broad-based rally in Indian markets today. IT stocks continued their uptrend as Nifty IT surged by another 1.4 per cent after jumping over 2 per cent on Tuesday as rally broadened across metal, pharma, telecom, private banks, FMCG and consumer durables stocks.  

Source

•  nseindia.com