Gift Nifty was trading at 23,567 early Monday, a 76-point discount to Friday’s Nifty futures close, signalling a weak open for Indian equities as Middle-East tensions and rising crude spooked global markets, according to livemint.com.
The slide began after the US-Iran conflict intensified over the weekend, pushing Brent crude up $3.6 to $100.9 a barrel and triggering a sell-off across Asia. Foreign portfolio investors pulled ₹3,200 crore out of Indian shares last week, thehindubusinessline.com reported, while Dow, Nasdaq and S&P 500 each ended Friday down more than 1%.
A 120-point gap-down would erase nearly all of Nifty’s 2026 gains and revive fears of imported inflation at a time when the RBI has paused rate cuts. The last comparable shock came in April 2024 when a drone strike on Saudi facilities sent crude to $95 and Nifty slid 4% in two sessions. With India importing 85% of its oil, every $10 rise in crude adds roughly 0.4 percentage points to CPI, economists at SBI noted last week.
Traders will watch the RBI’s unscheduled bond purchase calendar due Tuesday and the US Fed’s May minutes on Wednesday for cues on liquidity. If Nifty breaches 23,500, technical analysts told thehindubusinessline.com, the next support lies at 23,200; until then, most desks are advising cash-heavy positions.