Domestic equity benchmarks traded lower on Thursday in the morning session amid escalating tensions in West Asia and a sharp rise in crude oil prices.
Sensex declined over 450 points or 0.62 per cent to touch an intraday low of 73,518 in early trade. Similarly, Nifty slipped more than 100 points or 0.61 per cent to an intraday low of 23,072.
Sectorally, IT stocks led the decline, with the Nifty IT index tumbling more than 2 per cent. Nifty MidSmall IT & Telecom, Nifty Cement and Nifty Auto were also among the major laggards.
Healthcare stocks, however, bucked the trend. Nifty Pharma and Nifty500 Healthcare gained up to 0.50 per cent, while Nifty Media emerged as the top sectoral gainer, rising 0.78 per cent.
Among Nifty 50 stocks, IT counters remained under pressure, with HCLTech falling over 3 per cent, followed by Infosys and Tech Mahindra.
Trent, Eternal, TCS and Wipro were also among the major laggards. Other notable losers included Eicher Motors, Titan and Mahindra & Mahindra.
Meanwhile, US Central Command said American forces launched additional strikes on multiple targets in Iran in response to what it described as the country’s continued aggression.
On the commodities front, international benchmark Brent crude rose 2.54 per cent to $95.47 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained 4 per cent to $93.64 per barrel.
Across Asian stocks, market sentiment remained weak. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and South Korea’s KOSPI declined up to 1 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei traded flat.
Overnight, Wall Street ended lower, with the S&P 500 falling 1.62 per cent and the Nasdaq declining nearly 2 per cent.
-IANS
