Nifty Holds 24,000 Support Amid West Asia Tensions and Crude Concerns
India’s benchmark indices finished the week marginally lower as geopolitical friction and crude oil volatility offset strong corporate earnings, leaving investors cautious about near-term directional moves.
India’s benchmark equity indices ended Friday’s session with minimal gains, capping a second consecutive week of losses. The Nifty 50 rose 20.15 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 24,252, while the BSE Sensex finished flat at 77,540.83. Over the week, the Nifty and Sensex declined 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
"US-Iran geopolitical tensions continued to weigh on markets this week, resulting in subdued trading and range-bound moves," stated Sunny Agrawal, head of research at SBI Securities. This friction has confined market movements to a narrow band. However, the US Federal Reserve’s recent intervention to cool 30-year bond yields offered investors some interim relief.
Underlying corporate fundamentals provided a crucial buffer against these macroeconomic headwinds. The latest earnings season concluded with better-than-expected results, as a majority of reporting companies posted double-digit growth in both revenue and profit after tax. This resilience has prevented a deeper correction in the broader market.
Looking ahead, oil prices represent the primary risk to Indian equities. Ruchit Jain, head of equity technical research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, identified crude as the market’s biggest worry. He added that if oil prices start to cool off, the Nifty could soon break past its near-term resistance level of 24,500 to 24,600.
Despite recent pressure, the technical structure of the index remains constructive. Jain observed that the Nifty failed to surpass the previous day’s highs for 12 straight sessions before correcting, yet it has firmly respected its 24,000 support level. "In every correction since March, the Nifty has formed higher bottoms, which remains a positive sign," he noted.
Caution was still evident in market derivatives and breadth indicators. The Nifty Volatility Index climbed 4.1 percent to 11.2 on Friday. On the cash market, advancers narrowly edged out decliners, with 2,177 stocks rising against 2,152 falling out of 4,564 traded.
Smaller capitalization stocks showed slight relative strength during the session. The Nifty Small-cap 250 rose 0.4 percent on Friday to finish the week up 0.7 percent, while the Nifty Midcap 150 gained 0.1 percent and ended the week flat. Institutional flows reflected a familiar divergence, with domestic institutions buying ₹2,124 crore worth of shares as foreign portfolio investors net sold ₹543 crore.
Regional markets displayed mixed performance amid the same global crosscurrents. Japan’s index fell 0.3 percent and China remained flat, whereas Hong Kong rose 1.2 percent, South Korea gained 0.9 percent, and Taiwan advanced 0.7 percent. European equities also edged higher, with the Stoxx 600 up 0.2 percent.
