After witnessing a brief recovery in the previous session, the Nifty resumed its downward trend and fell as much as 1.2% on Wednesday amid persistent geopolitical tensions in West Asia, concerns over elevated crude oil prices and persistent FIIs outflows. Analysts say markets are likely to remain volatile in the near term amid escalating tensions in West Asia, which continue to keep crude oil prices elevated and triggering persistent Foreign Institutional Investor outflows.STATE OF THE MARKETSGIFT Nifty (Earlier SGX Nifty) signals a negative startGIFT Nifty on the NSE IX traded lower by 154 points, or 0.66 per cent, at 23,345, signaling that Dalal Street was headed for a negative start on Thursday.Tech View: The short-term trend remains weak, with the potential for the index to move towards 23,000 if it falls below 23,300. On the higher side, 23,600 is likely to act as a crucial resistance level.India VIX: India VIX, which is a measure of the fear in the markets, rose 6% to settle at 16.28 levels.Asian shares dropAsian stocks fell alongside US equity-index futures following a weak forecast from Broadcom Inc. and after renewed US-Iran clashes weighed on sentiment.S&P 500 futures fell 0.4% as of 9:01 a.m. Tokyo timeHang Seng futures fell 0.7%Japan’s Topix fell 0.7%Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.7%Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.8%US Stocks end lowerWall Street stocks pulled back from record highs on Wednesday as flaring tensions in the Middle East and rising crude prices stoked inflation jitters and convinced investors to take some profits.Dollar gainsThe dollar clung to its recent strength near a two-month high on Thursday as fresh Gulf hostilities sent oil prices higher and sapped risk appetite, while the Japanese yen hovered near the key 160 level that kept traders on intervention alert.Stocks in F&O ban today1) Amber Enterprises2) KaynesSecurities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95% of the market-wide position limit.RupeeThe rupee depreciated 40 paise to close at 95.76 against the US dollar on Wednesday, after the US Trade Representative proposed a 12.5 per cent additional duties on Indian imports, citing labour violations.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)