Indian shares set for muted start to week as Middle East conflict dents sentiment

India’s equity benchmarks are set to open little changed on Monday after two straight sessions of losses, as the conflict between Israel and Iran showed no signs of cooling, denting risk sentiment.

The Gift Nifty futures were trading at 24,791 as of 7:32 a.m. IST, indicating that the Nifty 50 will open near Friday’s close of 24,718.6.

Both the benchmarks posted weekly losses on Friday as Israel’s military strikes on Iran escalated tensions in the Middle East.

Over the weekend, Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks, killing and wounding civilians and raising concerns of a broader regional conflict.

Other Asian markets opened on a subdued note, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index losing 0.2%, while oil prices advanced on supply concerns due to geopolitical tensions in the oil-rich Middle East region.

Financials, IT stocks weigh on Indian equity benchmarks

A rise in oil prices is negative for importers of the commodity such as India, as crude constitutes a significant share of the country’s import bill.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net sellers of Indian stocks for a third straight session on Friday, taking their net outflows in June to 54.02 billion rupees ($627.55 million) so far.

Domestic institutional investors (DII) remained net buyers of Indian stocks for the 19th straight session on Friday.