Indian equities saw a decline from the highs of the day in the last hour of trading on Thursday (May 8), tracking the escalation of the border crisis between India and Pakistan. A combination of escalating tensions and the impact of the weekly derivatives expiry triggered the drop from the highs.
The benchmark Nifty 50 index ended 200 points off the highs of the day, and is likely to start around the mark of 24,000, if the GIFT Nifty implied open is concidered.
In an interaction with CNBC-TV18, Prashant Khemka of WhiteOak Capital said that volatility could be seen in the market during such times, adding that historically, wars have not had a lasting impact on the market.
In the short term, market movements will depend on the extent of escalation or de-escalation at the border, according to Khemka.
“We are fully invested and will continue to remain so. We are holding a normal cash level of around 1% and would look to deploy that in the current market,” he told CNBC-TV18.
Khemka added that both the India-UK and US-UK FTAs are positives, as they represent a de-escalation of tariffs. He expects more positive developments around trade deals with the US.
Nilesh Shah of Kotak Mahindra AMC said that retail investors have been investing regularly through SIPs and there is a fair amount of balancing done by the retail investors in response to FPI flows.
Shah also said that there is enough liquidity with Mutual Funds to buy in a falling market. “We will buy at lower levels, once the selling is over, markets will bounce back,” he added.
Overnight, Wall Street gained following US President Donald Trump announced the broad outline of a trade deal with the United Kingdom — the first since the US paused sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs in April 2025.
US stock futures hovered near the flatline as investors hope that the US-UK trade deal framework signals more progress to come.
Specific details of the agreement remained unclear, and no official documents were signed during the Oval Office announcement.
“The final details are being written up,” Donald Trump said. “In the coming weeks we’ll have it all very conclusive.”
