Sensex, Nifty open positive day after bloodbath driven by rising crude, Middle East tensions | Business News

Benchmark stock indices saw a slight improvement on Friday. The Nifty 50 rose by 77.40 points, or 0.34 per cent at 23,140.50 and Sensex also climbed 315.20 points, or 0.43 per cent, to settle at 73,895.74. The fresh figures come one day after both indices recorded their steepest single-session decline in over two months. Before Friday's figures came in, Nifty 50 and Sensex were down 1.2% and 1% this week, on track for a seventh consecutive weekly decline.Inflation worries impacting Indian marketsRising crude prices, inflation worries, pressure on financial stocks and continued foreign selling are weighing on Indian equities. According to a Reuters report, foreign investors sold Indian shares worth 50.27 billion rupees ($523.89 million) on Thursday.A spike in oil prices due to tensions in the Middle East are fuelling inflation concerns and raising interest rates globally, with the US 30-year bond yields at their highest in more than 20 years. Despite a slight drop in Brent oil prices to $105.73 per barrel, market concerns remain."Crude remains a key variable for India, and the spike in oil prices after briefly slipping below $100 revives supply concerns just as domestic markets found its footing," a Reuters report from Thursday quoted Hemang Gor, senior research analyst of derivatives and technical research at Axis Direct.Sharp plunge in Thursday's figuresThe Nifty 50 fell to 23,063.10 points and the Sensex dropped by over 1,200 points to 73,580.54 on Thursday, making it the worst day for Indian markets in 10 weeks.Surging crude oil prices due to the Iran war were largely to blame for the sharp drop in numbers. Indian markets continue to monitor the possibility of a truce between the US and Iran and gauge the impact of soaring global bond yields.Global oil prices todayOil prices fell slightly on Friday on hopes of a truce between the US and Iran amid war tensions escalated by the bombing of Saudi Arabia by Houthi rebels.Brent was down 87 cents, or 0.82%, at $105.73 a barrel at 0212 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was down $1.56, or 1.65%, at $93.05 a barrel, Reuters reported.