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Informist, Thursday, Jul. 9, 2026

By Gopika Balasubramanium

MUMBAI – Benchmark equity indices are expected to be under selling pressure at the open amid a fresh escalation in West Asia as the US struck Iran for the second straight day. The US launched strikes against Iran late Wednesday. The US called these additional strikes an attempt to degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. This comes after the US President Donald Trump ended the truce with Iran on Wednesday afternoon, saying the memorandum of understanding signed with Tehran is "over" in an address in Turkiye.

The near-term market sentiment is negative, with rising crude oil prices and uncertainty about whether both the US and Iran will reach a peace deal. While analysts do not expect the situation in West Asia to worsen as much as it did in Mar-Apr, the uncertainty about how things will pan out from here will keep investors from taking large bets. With these fresh escalations in West Asia, crude oil prices shot up to $80 a barrel on Wednesday. At 0728 IST, the September futures contract of Brent crude oil on the Intercontinental Exchange was at $78.7 a barrel, up around 1%. 

"Technically, the Nifty 50 index has reached an important price support at 23,800 (points), but a decisive fall below this level may drag it towards 23600-23400 in the near term," Vipin Kumaar, assistant vice president – technical and derivatives at Globe Capital Market, said. "On the higher side, 24200-24250 (points) will act as immediate resistance," he said. At 0727 IST, the July contract of GIFT NIFTY was at 23970.50, up 31.50 points or 0.1%. 

Meanwhile, Asian indices opened higher on Thursday as traders turned bullish on chip and electronics stocks. Barring the Australian benchmark index, all the other major Asian indices were higher in early trade. South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 were up over 1%. A rise in energy and metal stocks also helped the Nikkei 225 rise. In the US, indices ended lower after Trump's remarks on ending the temporary peace deal with Iran.  

There is some improvement in the inflows from foreign investors to the Indian market. FPIs have turned net buyers since last Friday. Since Friday, FPIs have net bought shares worth INR 39.5 billion. While this cannot indicate that foreign investors have turned bullish on India, it indicates that they are slowly looking to deploy capital in the Indian market. However, with some major initial public offerings on the horizon and renewed escalation in West Asia, foreign investors may decide to slow down a bit. Domestic investors net bought shares worth INR 7.9 billion on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, investors would also focus on the June-quarter earnings of Tata Consultancy Services, due later in the day. The company is expected to report a marginal sequential decline in its consolidated bottom line owing to annual salary hikes rolled out across the organisation from Apr. 1. However, its revenue for the quarter is expected to rise slightly, with the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar. Shares of the company ended 1.8% lower Wednesday at INR 2,057.50 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

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

Edited by Saji George Titus

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