More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Apr. 9, 2026                                      Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

---

Equity Alert: Indices may open flat; crude up as Iran shuts Strait of Hormuz

 

MUMBAI--0820 IST--Benchmark equity indices may open largely flat as crude oil prices resumed its upward trend after several reports said that Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Further, Iran has accused the US of violating several terms of the two-week ceasefire agreement, renewing concern that conflict in West Asia could escalate again and disrupt energy supplies. 

 

Iran's parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, in a social media post Wednesday claimed that the US has breached the terms of the temporary ceasefire agreement between the warring parties. He said that three elements of Iran's 10-point truce proposal were violated. This included Israel's ongoing strikes in Lebanon, a drone entering Iranian airspace, and what he described as the denial of Tehran's right to enrich uranium. 

 

In response, US Vice-President J.D. Vance said, "Ceasefires are always messy," addressing the reported drone incident in Iranian airspace, CNBC reported. He added that Washington maintains Iran should not be allowed to enrich uranium, and said any ceasefire covering Lebanon had not been included in the agreement, the report said. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also said that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the truce "terms are clear" regarding Lebanon, and Washington must choose "ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both".

 

The June future contract of Brent crude oil rose over 3% to a high of $97.96 a barrel Thursday. This came a day after it fell over 13% on hopes of easing supply disruptions following the temporary truce between the US and Iran. At 0805 IST, the futures contract traded at $96.75 per barrel, up over 2% from its previous close. 

 

The Gift Nifty suggests a largely flat opening for the domestic market. At 0759 IST, the April futures contract of Gift Nifty traded at 24001.50, just four points away from Nifty 50's previous close. On Wednesday, the Nifty 50 index settled at 23997.35, up 873.70 points or 3.8%, marking the sharpest single-day rise in almost a year.

 

"From a technical standpoint, 24000 remains a crucial resistance, both psychologically and structurally. This level is likely to act as a supply zone, and any upward move towards it may attract profit booking or fresh short positions," said Sundar Kewat, technical and derivative analyst at Ashika Institutional Equities. "On the downside, 23500 (points) stands as immediate support. A decisive hold above 24000 points could trigger further upside towards 24300–24500 levels. However, failure to sustain higher levels may keep the index range-bound between 23500–24000 in the near term," he added. (Arya S. Biju) 

---

 

Equity Alert: Wall Street soars after US, Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire

 

MUMBAI--0755 IST--Indices on Wall Street soared Wednesday after the US and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire. The truce is dependent on the US not attacking Iran, and the West Asian nation reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The June contract of Brent crude oil futures fell sharply to below $100 per barrel after the ceasefire was announced.

 

A final peace agreement with Iran would be decided in these two weeks, US President Donald Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. "The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East," Trump said in the post.

 

All major indices in the US closed higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing over 1,300 points higher to post its highest daily gain in nearly a year. The S&P 500 ended 2.5% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite closed 2.8% higher. All prominent sectoral indices barring the S&P 500 Energy index closed in the positive territory. The S&P 500 Energy was 3.66% lower. Shares of upstream oil companies Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. declined over 4%.

 

Meanwhile, minutes of Federal Open Market Committee's last meeting raised the inflation outlook for the near term due to high energy prices. "Some measures of near-term inflation expectations increased, as energy and other commodity prices surged with the Middle East conflict," the central bank officials said. The impact of elevated crude oil prices and tariff-linked price hikes is seen abating by the end of this year, and the Federal Reserve sees inflation coming down to its 2% target only by the end of the next year.

 

The growth in the labour market was in line with expectations and the rate of unemployment is seen steady this year. However, risks to growth in the labour market persist if hostilities in West Asia continue for longer.

 

Following are the closing levels of US indices Wednesday:

 

Index	Level	Change in %
S&P 500	6782.81	2.51
NASDAQ Composite	22634.995	2.8
Dow Jones Industrial Average	47909.92	2.85

 

(Ruchira Kagita)

 

US$1 = INR 92.58

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

All prices from National Stock Exchange, unless otherwise specified.

All percentage changes for share prices are rounded off to the nearest whole number; percentage changes for index values are rounded off to one decimal place.

All times are Indian Standard Time.

 

NSE: National Stock Exchange
NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
NYMEX: New York Mercantile Exchange
SEBI: Securities and Exchange Board of India
RBI: Reserve Bank of India

Internet links:
Securities and Exchange Board of India - http://www.sebi.gov.in
Bombay Stock Exchange - http://www.bseindia.com
National Stock Exchange of India - http://www.nseindia.com
Directory of Indian government websites - http://goidirectory.nic.in
Indian Ministry of Finance - http://www.finmin.nic.in
Reserve Bank of India - http://rbi.org.in
Controller General of Accounts, Government of India - http://www.cga.nic.in
Government's Press Information Bureau - http://www.pib.nic.in

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.