April 9 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened lower on Thursday after a sharp rally in the previous session, as renewed Middle East tensions cooled hopes the Iran-U.S. ceasefire would lead to lasting peace.
The Nifty 50 fell 0.37% to 23,909.05 and the Sensex shed 0.31% to 77,319.33 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.
The benchmarks rose about 4% each on Wednesday as oil prices slumped after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, sparking a global market rally.[.BO]
However, investor sentiment turned cautious on the day after Iran said it would be "unreasonable" to pursue talks with Washington after Israel pounded Lebanon with its heaviest strikes yet on Wednesday.
Conflicting signals ahead of planned U.S.-Iran talks on Saturday, including Tehran's warning of retaliation, revived fears that the ceasefire may only be a temporary pause.
Other Asian markets fell 0.8% while Brent crude hovered around $96 a barrel. [MKTS/GLOB]
Fourteen of the 16 major sectors declined. High-weight financials lost 0.5% while IT dropped 0.4%, ahead of the earnings of top software service firm TCS later in the day.
The broader small-caps and mid-caps traded flat.
(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy and Nivedita Bhattacharjee )
