Indian Markets Set for Strong Open on Gift Nifty Cues; Energy Ceasefire Cheers, Hormuz Impasse Lingers

Mumbai, Oct 12: Indian equity markets are set for a strong open on Monday, with Gift Nifty futures pointing to gains after Friday’s sharp rebound on Dalal Street. Sentiment is being helped by US President Donald Trump’s declaration of an “energy ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, which has pulled crude oil lower. 

The relief is tempered by the Middle East, where Iran said the US response to its seven-condition proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was “insufficient”. With the waterway still shut, Brent crude remains above $100 a barrel, a key risk for India as a large oil importer. 

Gift Nifty 

Gift Nifty futures were trading at 22,624.50, up 37.50 points or 0.17 per cent, as of 7:53 am IST on October 12. That is about 104 points above the Nifty 50’s Friday close of 22,520.45, indicating a gap-up start for the benchmark. 

Investors will also track foreign flows. Foreign portfolio investors sold a net Rs 12,944 crore of Indian equities on Thursday, their largest single-day outflow since May 29, after the Reserve Bank of India’s hawkish rate increase earlier in the week. 

Iran War 

Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei said on Sunday that Washington’s reply to Tehran’s seven conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz was “insufficient”, according to state media. Iran’s proposal, presented during the UN General Assembly, envisaged normal passage through a waterway that carried a fifth of the world’s oil before the war being restored within seven days if the conditions were met, and the US replied through Qatari intermediaries. Rezaei said the US had accepted some conditions while others remained unclear, adding that Iran was “no longer in the process of responding to the Americans”. Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called his Saudi counterpart after Houthi missile strikes on Riyadh airport, which UOB said killed 12 people and injured over 300. 

Asian Stocks 

Asian markets were mixed on Monday morning. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.49 per cent to 24,330.78, Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.83 per cent to 8,789.20 and Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.56 per cent to 5,431.90. On the other side, South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 2.45 per cent to 6,463.74, Taiwan’s index fell 0.63 per cent to 49,001.84 and China’s Shenzhen index lost 0.75 per cent to 12,547.71. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.02 per cent to 69,030.92, while Shanghai edged down 0.06 per cent to 3,811.57. 

Wall Street 

Wall Street ended higher on Friday, led by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which rose 423.31 points or 0.83 per cent to 51,654.95. The S&P 500 gained 46.18 points or 0.59 per cent to 7,811.54, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 172.83 points or 0.64 per cent to 27,366.17. The NYSE Composite added 0.59 per cent to 23,939.10, and the VIX fell 3.7 per cent to 14.84. 

Oil Prices 

Oil fell on Monday on hopes of better supplies after Trump said Russia and Ukraine would not target each other’s energy facilities and that Russia would supply over 4 million tons of diesel to the global market.
Crude oil prices fell today, with WTI crude down 1.91% to $90.10 and Brent crude down 1.64% to $103.00 per barrel, according to oilprice.com. Prices could stay volatile, UOB said, as Hurricane Isaias, a Category 3 storm, forced US offshore producers to curtail output. 

Indian Markets Close on Friday 

The Sensex and Nifty 50 rebounded sharply on Friday, October 9, with the Sensex rising 879 points or 1.23 per cent to close at 72,472 and the Nifty gaining 289 points or 1.30 per cent to settle at 22,520 after the closing auction session. The Nifty IT index led sectoral gains, climbing 3 per cent as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) rose 3.8 per cent, while the Nifty FMCG index rose 2.2 per cent on ITC (ITC) surging 4.3 per cent. Advancers outnumbered decliners at 2,344 to 1,686, and the Nifty gained 0.4 per cent for the week, ending its longest weekly losing run in 25 years. Domestic institutional investors bought Rs 10,703 crore of shares on Thursday, offsetting part of the foreign selling in the same session. 

Source

•  nseindia.com
• oilprice.com
• https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/12/oil-prics-today-iran-us-saudi-arabia-crude-.html
• https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-says-us-response-its-proposal-reopen-hormuz-was-insufficient-2026-10-11/