Brace yourselves for a negatively-biased day

The rising tensions in the Middle East have once again attained the centre stage and may result in the markets opening below Friday’s closing line. The Asian peers are reeling under selling pressure and this is sure to spill on the Indian shores as well. Volatility will be the buzzword on D-street today. The early action on SGX Nifty is indicating a red start, as the index may open down by 52 points at 12,196 levels.
 
The global cues are being driven by geopolitics more than economics. In a recent development, Iran has pulled back from a nuclear deal, as the Middle East tension rises. The Asian markets are in a sea of red on Monday. The Japanese Nikkei is down by a huge 485 points (2.05 per cent) while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped by 0.54 per cent, and China’s Shanghai Composite has slipped 0.09 per cent.
 
Back home, after a stupendous rally on Thursday, the stage was set for a fresh all-time high on key benchmark indices; however, pouring cold water on hopes, the news of fresh tension between the US-Iran triggered a gap-down start and the benchmark gradually drifted lower, as the day progressed. In the end, Nifty lost 0.45 per cent and BSE Sensex dropped 0.39 per cent. The broader markets, too, ended in red with Nifty Midcap and Small-cap dipping by 0.57 and 0.04 per cent, respectively. Among the sectoral pack, Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma were the top gainers while Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Auto, and Nifty Bank were the top losers.
 
Let us have a look at how western markets fared over the weekend:

The US stock markets fell on Friday amid heightened tensions between the US-Iran, following an airstrike by the US military in Iraq that had killed General Qassem Soleimani. At the closing bell, the Dow fell 234 points, the S&P 500 shed 18 points, and NASDAQ plunged 71 points. For the week, the Dow and S&P were flat while the tech-heavy NASDAQ was up by 0.2 per cent. The European indices ended mixed.