GIFT Nifty up 130 points; here's the trading setup for today's session

The current week will be crucial for markets as ongoing worries about a potential conflict between Iran and Israel emerge. Analysts said if tensions escalate significantly, there's a risk of panic selling and increased volatility across global stock markets.

"Nifty managed to hold 100-DMA and make a smart recovery from the lower levels at 21777. 22300 will be the first hurdle, while 22525 will be the next hurdle. If Nifty slips below 22000, then 100-DMA around 21700 will be the next support level," said Pravesh Gour, Senior Technical Analyst at Swastika Investmart.

Markets saw some relief at the start of Thursday's session but failed to sustain at higher levels amid volatility and declined for the fourth consecutive day.

"Overall we expect volatility to continue in the market in the absence of any major positive trigger, while focus will continue on stock-specific action amid the earning season," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal.

Here's breaking down the pre-market actions:

STATE OF THE MARKETS
GIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a positive start
GIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded higher by 129.50 points, or 0.59 per cent, at 22,240.50, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for positive start on Monday.

• Tech View: "Technically, the set-up is mildly negative at this point with Nifty below the crucial resistance zone of 22,300-350. A crossover beyond this area is required for the bulls to be back in the game," said Tejas Shah, JM Financial and BlinkX.
• India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 3.2% to settle at 13.46 levels.

US stocks down
The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed in negative territory due to pressure from Netflix shares, yet American Express buoyed the Dow with its quarterly earnings report. Meanwhile, prevailing pessimism regarding the Federal Reserve's inclination to decrease interest rates soon also contributed to subdued market sentiment.

Asian stocks up
Asian stocks opened higher as focus shifted to a slew of company earnings and economic data this week for insight into the direction of central bank policy.

• S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% as of 7:58 a.m. Hong Kong time
• Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%
• S&P/ASX 200 futures rose 0.4%

Oil down
Oil prices fell at Asia's open on Monday, dragged down by a renewed focus on market fundamentals, as Israel and Iran played down the risks of an escalation of hostilities in the Middle East after Israel's apparently small strike on Iran.

Dollar gains
The euro and yen were relatively steady in early Asian trading on Monday and the U.S. dollar stayed near its highs after last week's hectic policy and geopolitical developments.

Stocks in F&O ban today

1) Balrampur Chini Mills

2) Metropolis

3) Biocon

4) Vodafone Idea

5) Exide Industries

6) SAIL

7) ZEE

8) PEL

9) Bandhan Bank

Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit

FII/DII action
Foreign portfolio investors turned marginal net buyers at Rs 129 crore on Friday. DIIs, meanwhile, sold shares worth Rs 22 crore.

Rupee
The Indian rupee opened to a record low and settled at 83.48 on Friday as reports of Israeli strikes in Iran prompted investors to exit risk assets and lap up safe havens.

FII data
The net short of FIIs reduced from Rs 1.07 lakh crore on Thursday to Rs 1.03 lakh crore on Friday.


Q4 results
RIL, Hatsun Agro Products and Tejas Networks among others will announce their fourth quarter earnings on Monday.