Indian'shares' fell on Monday as oil prices soared over $100 per barrel in anticipation of a U.S. blockade of Iran ports.

The Nifty 50 dropped 0.86%, to 23,842.65; the Sensex fell 0.91%, to 76 847.57. The Sensex and Nifty 50 indexes recovered some ground following a 2.1% drop earlier in the day.

Other Asian markets fell 0.9%.

"We do not think it's fair to expect (between Iran & U.S.)?a deal in one sitting." Arun Malhotra is the fund manager of CapGrow Capital. He said that from a market's perspective, last week's recovery indicated that Indian equity markets are in good shape unless there was a significant increase.

Investors took comfort in a fragile U.S. - Iran ceasefire. The benchmarks rose about 6% during the week.

Malhotra predicts that volatility will remain high, and the markets will be driven by headline risk.

The Nifty Volatility Index jumped from 18.8 to 20.5 on Friday.

15 of 16 major sectors declined. Small-caps and midcaps both fell 0.5% and 0.60% respectively.

Reliance Industries, a conglomerate of oil and telecom companies, has dropped by 2.6% since the government increased export duties on diesel and aviation fuel.

Investors weighed the impact of higher crude oil prices on margins.

Media reports stated that Delhi's draft policy on electric vehicles would provide large exemptions to?EVs in order to reduce air pollution. This exacerbated concerns about a possible?supply interruption from the Middle East conflict.

Ather Energy JBM Auto, and Olectra -Greentech all saw gains of 5.2%, respectively.

Heavyweight financials dropped 0.6%.

The domestic markets will be closed for a holiday on Tuesday. Trading will resume Wednesday. (Reporting and editing by Rashmi aich, Mrigank dhaniwala, and Sumanty Nandy in Bengaluru)

(source: Reuters)