Indian benchmark indices opened sharply lower on Friday as escalating tensions between Israel and Iran rattled investor sentiment. Heavy selling pressure was witnessed in auto, IT, financial services, and PSU bank stocks during early trade.
At around 9:33 a.m., the Sensex was trading 896.50 points, or 1.10 per cent, lower at 80,795.44, while the Nifty fell 278.50 points, or 1.12 per cent, to 24,609.70.
The Nifty Bank index dropped 633.80 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 55,448.75. The Nifty Midcap 100 declined by 603.90 points, or 1.03 per cent, to trade at 57,836.95, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 was down 192.75 points, or 1.04 per cent, at 18,272.30.
Analysts warned that the economic fallout from Israel’s military action could be severe if hostilities with Iran persist. Israel has already declared that its operation could last several days.
“The market impact will depend on the duration of the conflict. In the near term, investors are likely to adopt a risk-off approach. Sectors dependent on oil derivatives—such as aviation, paints, adhesives, and tyres—may face pressure. In contrast, oil producers like ONGC and Oil India could prove more resilient,” said Dr. V.K. Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
The Nifty had already closed over one per cent lower in the previous session amid signs of rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East. As of this morning, Israel has launched pre-emptive strikes on Iran, prompting a broad-based risk-off sentiment across global markets.
“Technically, Wednesday’s ‘buyer rejection’ candle, which followed the bearish ‘upside gap two crows’ pattern earlier in the week, was a clear warning of caution building in the market,” noted Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research at Axis Securities.
Among the top laggards in the Sensex pack were Tata Motors, L&T, PowerGrid, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, Titan, and Infosys.
Across Asian markets, indices in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, Japan, Seoul, and China were all trading in the red.
In the previous U.S. trading session, the Dow Jones closed at 42,967.62, up 101.85 points or 0.24 per cent. The S&P 500 gained 23.02 points or 0.38 per cent to end at 6,045.26, while the Nasdaq rose by 46.61 points or 0.24 per cent to close at 19,662.49.
On the institutional front, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) extended their selling for the second consecutive day, offloading equities worth ₹3,831.42 crore on June 12. Meanwhile, Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹9,393.85 crore on the same day.
— IANS
