Indian Markets Open with Caution; Concerns Over Iran-US Ceasefire 

Mumbai, April 9: Indian equity benchmarks opened on a cautious, muted note on Thursday in contrast to the euphoria of the previous day — as fresh concerns over the ceasefire in Iran’s conflict with the US soured sentiment and triggered partial profit-booking in the market. The BSE Sensex was down 184 points or 0.24% at 77,378 at 9.28 am, while the NSE Nifty 50 fell 13 points or 0.06% to 23,983 at 9.30 am, largely offsetting a small part of its massive Wednesday gain and suggesting the market is taking a breather to assess the durability of the ceasefire before allocating new capital.

Top Gainers and Losers: Defensive Buying Continues, Cyclicals Lose a Bit of their Sheen

The top gainers’ list at the open was dominated by defensive shares, with Hindalco leading Nifty 50 advances at 2.79% to ₹978, followed by Max Healthcare (+1.64% to ₹956), Bajaj Auto (+1.63% to ₹9,518), NTPC (+1.62% to ₹380) and BEL (+1.39% to ₹439). The top losers’ list, on the other hand, saw Infosys leading the declines at 2.32% to ₹1,315 from its previous close of ₹1,346 — reversing some of its recent gains — followed by L&T at -1.84% to ₹3,932 from ₹4,005, IndiGo at -1.54% to ₹4,544 from ₹4,615, HDFC Bank at -1.35% to ₹805 from ₹816, Shriram Finance at -1.35%, ICICI Bank at -1.24% and M&M at -1.37%, with the financial and cyclical stocks that drove Wednesday’s gains accounting for a significant portion of the early profit-booking.

Nifty Sectoral: Nifty IT and Realty Among Biggest Losers; Nifty Metal Advances

The broad market indices were trading marginally down at the open with Nifty 100 easing 0.54% to 24,534, Nifty Midcap 50 slipping 0.33% to 16,156 and Nifty Smallcap 100 showing almost no change at -0.02%, suggesting a market intent on consolidating recent gains rather than reversing them. As for sectoral indices, Nifty IT was the weakest performer early on, down 1.35%, while Nifty Realty was another major loser, declining 1.11% — both sectors giving back a small part of their very sharp Wednesday gains. Nifty Bank was also lower by 0.81%, Nifty Private Bank eased 0.91% and Nifty Financial Services dropped 0.87%. In contrast, Nifty Metal was the top sectoral gainer, up 1.15% as Tata Steel rose 1.04% and JSW Steel gained 0.90%, as metals benefitted from the bounce in global commodity markets. Nifty Pharma was up a modest 0.32% and Nifty Healthcare was 0.46% higher, as the defensive health sector got some mild inflows.

Uncertainty Looms Over Iran-US Ceasefire

The lack of conviction behind the market open comes as the ceasefire between the US and Iran comes under pressure on multiple fronts: first, while peace talks between the two sides are set to begin on Saturday in Islamabad, a number of key terms are yet to be agreed upon including a second phase ceasefire involving Iran and Saudi Arabia — and overnight reports that Israel had just launched its biggest coordinated strike in Lebanon since the war began, killing at least 182 people, rattled markets further, with the Trump administration confirming that the ceasefire does not pertain to Israeli military actions against Hezbollah in Lebanon. This follow-through in early trade comes a day after the Sensex had recorded a historical single-day gain of 2,946 points or 3.95% on Wednesday on the first news of the ceasefire.

Asian Markets

Asian markets mostly followed suit, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.55% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng easing 0.26%, although gains in Southeast Asian markets such as Indonesia and Pakistan helped support sentiment in the region. US markets, however, closed the Wednesday session on a very strong note with the Dow Jones surging 2.85%, the Nasdaq climbing 2.80% and the S&P 500 gaining 2.51%, which is helping limit losses for Indian markets at the open.
Oil prices stabilise

Oil prices recovered in early Thursday trade after Tuesday’s shocking 13%-plus nosedive, as doubts over the full resumption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained in focus. The Brent June contract was trading at $96.80 per barrel in early trade, up 2.16% from its previous close, while the WTI May contract rose 2.85% to $97.10 per barrel, both still well off the $111-plus levels seen before the ceasefire but firming up as markets absorbed some of the ceasefire’s incomplete aspects. The rebound in oil prices is adding to the complexity of the Indian market, which saw the steep decline in crude as a key input for Wednesday’s euphoria.

Previous Close: Historic Day for Indian Markets

Indian stock markets finished sharply higher on Wednesday in one of the most emphatic single-day rallies in recent years, after the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Iran’s conflict with the US brokered by Pakistan. The Sensex surged 2,946 points or 3.95% to close at 77,562.90, while the Nifty 50 advanced 873 points or 3.78% to settle at 23,997.35 ending at its highest level in weeks and completely erasing the losses made during the war period. The Indian stock market is poised to continue its upward momentum as the benchmark Nifty 50 closed near the 24,000 psychological barrier, with all sectors from banking to auto to realty contributing to the broad-based rally.