More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Mar. 5, 2026

By Arya S. Biju

MUMBAI - Domestic benchmark indices are expected to open higher Thursday, tracking the gains on Wall Street as well as Asian peers, which rose after jitters around hostilities in West Asia eased after a report said Iran had signalled openness to the US Central Intelligence Agency to talks on ‌ending the war. However, sustaining the gains would be difficult for domestic indices given the volatile environment amid the armed conflict, analysts said.

Additionally, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Wednesday said the Donald Trump administration will provide support to oil tankers transiting the Persian Gulf and will announce more measures in the coming days, CNBC reported. On Tuesday, Trump had also promised naval escorts for oil traffic in the Persian Gulf, if necessary. 

Overnight, key Wall Street indices closed higher buoyed by gains in technology and semiconductor stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.5% higher Wednesday, ending its losing run since the US-Iran hostilities began. The S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed around 1% higher each.

Most Asian indices rose in early trade Thursday, staging a sharp rebound from the fall seen in the previous sessions, as sentiment improved following overnight gains on Wall Street and easing concerns over surging oil prices. South Korea's Kospi jumped over 12% in early trade, recovering most of the 19% it shed over the past three sessions.  

However, oil prices continued to rise amid lack of clarity on the possible duration of the armed conflict in West Asia. At 0803 IST, the May crude oil futures contract was at $83.54 per barrel, up nearly 3% from Wednesday's close. The contracts have risen over 7% since Monday. 

The Gift Nifty contracts indicate Nifty 50 opening slightly higher. At 0805 IST, the March contract of the Nifty 50 on the NSE International Exchange traded at 24689.50 points, indicating an over 200 point rise from Wednesday's closing price. If the Nifty 50 sustains above the 24500 support level, it could witness a pullback towards 24800 in the near term, Sundar Khewat, technical and derivatives analyst at Ashika Group said. However, if the 50-stock index fails to hold the 24500 support and slips below it, the index may witness renewed selling pressure, which could drag it to the 24000 points level, he added.  

Foreign portfolio investors remained net sellers Wednesday, selling Indian equities worth INR 87.53 billion. At the same time, domestic institutional investors net bought equities worth nearly INR 120.68 billion. Going forward, foreign portfolio investor sentiment is expected to remain soft, while domestic retail sentiment may sour if hostilities in West Asia persist or worsen, Kotak Securities said in a report.  End

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

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

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.