Indian equity markets trade higher as Iran-Israel tensions ease

Indian markets rose sharply as easing Iran-Israel tensions and lower crude oil prices boosted sentiment. Sensex and Nifty gained over 0.5%, led by financials and midcaps, while global cues from Asia and Wall Street remained positive despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty

Mumbai: Indian equities traded higher on Tuesday in the morning trade, supported by improving sentiment after signs of a pause in hostilities between Iran and Israel. Sensex rose as much as 0.7 per cent or over 500 points to hit an intraday high of 74,035.41 in early trade, while Nifty gained 0.6 per cent or more than 100 points to touch 23,259.45.

On the sectoral front, Nifty MidSmall Financial Services emerged as the top gainer, rising over 1 per cent, followed by Nifty Realty, which also advanced more than 1 per cent. Nifty Auto climbed 0.9 per cent. Banking stocks traded higher as well, with the PSU Bank and Private Bank indices gaining up to 0.8 per cent.

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Category-wise, microcap, midcap and smallcap indices outperformed the benchmarks. Nifty Microcap 250 rose more than 1 per cent, while Nifty Midcap 50, Midcap 100 and Midcap 150 gained up to nearly 1 per cent. Market volatility eased, with India VIX declining more than 4 per cent to around 16.

According to market experts, the decline in Brent crude prices to below $94 per barrel is positive for Indian equities. They, however, cautioned that there is no certainty that the fragile peace between Iran and Israel will hold. A US federal judge striking down President Donald Trump’s H-1B visa fee hike is also a mild positive for Indian IT stocks, experts said.

“The bulls are too weak to stage a strong comeback, while the bears remain strong enough to press selling on rallies. The sustained selling by FIIs shows no sign of fatigue. Large-cap valuations are fair and, in segments like banking, attractive, largely due to FII selling,” analysts said. However, elevated volatility and lingering global uncertainty are expected to keep traders cautious in the near term, they added. Meanwhile, Iran and Israel said they had paused military strikes against each other following an appeal by US President Donald Trump for an immediate de-escalation.

However, Tehran warned that it would resume attacks if Israel continued targeting Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. Crude oil prices traded lower, with international benchmark Brent crude declining about 1 per cent to $93 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell around 1 per cent to $90 per barrel.

Asian markets traded largely in positive territory, with Japan’s Nikkei rising more than 1 per cent and South Korea’s KOSPI surging nearly 5 per cent. Other major regional indices were also trading higher. In the US, Wall Street ended in green overnight, with the S&P 500 closing 0.3 per cent higher and the Nasdaq settling nearly 1 per cent higher.