Indian shares are down as Middle East tensions continue, and the Nifty expiry date looms.

Indian?shares fell on Tuesday, as oil prices rose due to Middle East tensions. Investors also awaited the expiration of the Nifty 50 derivative contracts.

As of 9:58 a.m. IST, the BSE Sensex fell 0.24% and the Nifty dropped 0.32% to 24,142.25.

Fourteen out of 16 major sectors posted losses. Small-caps and middle-caps remained muted.

Iran has promised to respond in kind to the recent escalation in geopolitical tensions. Washington claimed that economic sanctions would cut off Tehran’s economic lifeline.

Brent crude futures hovered around $92.5 per barrel.

Bhautik Ambani is the CEO of AlphaGrep Mutual Funds. He said that while the Indian earnings landscape has improved, external factors like the?Middle East tensions have increased the risk of higher crude prices and new supply-chain disruptions. Both of these are important macro variables for India.

Investors will also be focusing on the Nifty 50's monthly derivative expiry, under the new closing session for stocks that have futures or options contracts attached to them. This has caused volatility in benchmark indices during weekly expiry sessions.

When there is too little volume in the auction book the equilibrium price can drift from where the continuous trading stopped, and this is what unnerved traders during the first weeks," said Rishabh Nahar.

Two traders have said that the effectiveness of the CAS will be tested not only at the Nifty 50 expiry today, but also the day after the market closes on August 31 when the latest MSCI index rejig comes into effect.

Great Eastern Shipping, a stock in the shipping industry, gained 2% when its board announced it would?consider a proposal for repurchase of shares.

Hindustan Copper?fell by 6.5% following the government's offer to divest up a to 6% stake at a discount of 10.5% to the last close. Vivek M and Bharathrajeswaran, Sherry Jacob Phillips and Niveditarjee edited the report.

(source: Reuters)