Middle East conflict: Stock investors advised to stay calm

New Delhi, Oct 4: The escalating tensions in the Middle East region have added volatility to global markets, including Indian indices, especially with crude oil prices rising by over 5 per cent in the past two days, market watchers said on Friday, advising investors to stay calm as the situation is likely to improve soon.

It has been a volatile week for Indian markets. Nifty 50 is down 4.5 per cent, Nifty Midcap 3.3 per cent, and Nifty Smallcap 2.3 per cent.

Nifty Metals, however, continued its upward trajectory, closing the week with 0.3 per cent returns.

Mixed trading took place in the global markets. The Jakarta market reported losses.

The US market closed with losses in Thursday's session.

According to Krishna Appala from Capitalmind Research, two major events in the week have significantly impacted our markets -- SEBI's new futures and options regulations and the increasing geopolitical tensions between Iran and Israel, which have raised fears of potential disruptions to crude supplies.

"The key lesson here is that while we cannot predict the future, it’s important to have a high-level plan and not react in panic. These geopolitical flare-ups tend to occur periodically, and though the situation may seem critical now, such tensions have arisen before," Appala said.

On Friday, Sensex and Nifty closed in the red for the fifth session, amid worries about escalating Middle East conflict. Sensex closed at 81,688 --- 808 points down – as Nifty was down 200 points at 25,049.

Rupak De from LKP Securities said Nifty witnessed a bear attack for the second consecutive day. "On the lower end, the next support is seen at 24,750, while on the higher end, resistance is visible at 25,300," he added. According to market analysts, investors are monitoring the escalating conflict in the Middle East and have adopted a sell-on recovery strategy. The pessimism on the market is expected to continue in the near term amid rising crude prices and fund flows to cheaper markets like China.