Israel-Hamas Conflict Introduces Huge Uncertainty for Markets

The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has introduced a huge uncertainty for the markets, says V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“Nobody knows how this war is going to evolve. From the market perspective it is important to understand that even though the death and destruction are tragic, presently it is unlikely to cause major disruption in oil supplies thereby impacting major oil importers like India. But the situation will change if Iran, a major Hamas supporter, is drawn into the war. That can disrupt oil supplies causing a spike in crude, which can trigger a risk-off in the market”, he said.

“This is a time to be cautious. Investors may refrain from taking big risks. Wait for the developments to unfold. Long-term investors can slowly accumulate high quality stocks on declines."

Vaishali Parekh, Vice President - Technical Research, Prabhudas Lilladher, said the Nifty further extended the gains post the RBI policy outcome to close above the 19,650 zone gradually improving the bias with participation beginning to be visible from the broader markets as well.

The index would further need to breach above the next hurdle of 19,850 levels to establish some conviction for further rise in the coming days.

The support for the day is seen at 19,550 levels while the resistance is seen at 19,800 levels, Parekh said.

BSE Sensex is down 270 points at 65724 points on Monday morning.

Titan, SBI, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, Powergrid are down more than 1 per cent.