---
title: "Bonds, barrels and bulls: Indian markets brace for emerging risks"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/286678433.md"
description: "In April, India's Nifty Microcap index surged 21.55%, while the CNX500 rose 10.5%. Despite a market decline in March, retail investors invested over ₹28,000 crore in SIPs. However, rising US treasury yields, now above 4.5%, and a weakening rupee, nearing ₹100 to the dollar, raise concerns. India's heavy reliance on oil imports exacerbates vulnerabilities, with Brent crude prices exceeding $100. Inflation pressures are mounting, with wholesale prices jumping to 8.30%. Policymakers may need to tighten liquidity if retail inflation exceeds 6%."
datetime: "2026-05-17T08:49:24.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/286678433.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/286678433.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/286678433.md)
---

# Bonds, barrels and bulls: Indian markets brace for emerging risks

This April, the Nifty Microcap index was up 21.55 per cent, an unprecedented rise since its launch in 2022. The CNX500 rose 10.5 per cent, the only month in the last five years in which it was up by more than 10 per cent. The market decline in March was treated like a festival-season discount sale. Retail investors kept pouring more than ₹28,000 crore a month into systematic investment plans (SIPs). Even though the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20 per cent of global oil passes and gas trade takes place — has been closed off since March 2, something changed last week. For starters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an extraordinary public appeal urging Indians to avoid foreign travel and buying gold for one year. Governments do not usually ask citizens to postpone holidays or curb gold purchases unless there is a serious underlying anxiety about the balance of payments, currency stability, and foreign-exchange outflows.

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