MUMBAI, Mar 23: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty plummeted on Monday, in tandem with an extremely weak trend in global markets as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of a slowdown. Rising crude oil prices due to the war, which has entered its fourth week, relentless foreign fund outflows and weakness in the rupee have also made investors risk-averse. The 30-share BSE Sensex dived 1,836.57 points, or 2.46 per cent, to settle at 72,696.39. During the […]

Sensex plunges 1,836 pts; Nifty down to 22,512 as war, crude oil prices continue to hit sentiments

Daily Excelsior

MUMBAI, Mar 23: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty plummeted on Monday, in tandem with an extremely weak trend in global markets as the war in the Middle East showed no signs of a slowdown.

Rising crude oil prices due to the war, which has entered its fourth week, relentless foreign fund outflows and weakness in the rupee have also made investors risk-averse.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dived 1,836.57 points, or 2.46 per cent, to settle at 72,696.39. During the day, it plunged 1,974.52 points, or 2.64 per cent, to 72,558.44.

The 50-share NSE Nifty tanked 601.85 points, or 2.60 per cent, to end at 22,512.65.

From the 30-Sensex firms, Titan tumbled the most by 6.24 per cent. Trent, UltraTech Cement, Bharat Electronics, InterGlobe Aviation, Tata Steel, and HDFC Bank were also among the major laggards.

HCL Tech, Power Grid, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra were the winners.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 0.97 per cent to USD 113.3 per barrel.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended sharply lower. The Kospi dived the most by 6.49 per cent.

Markets in Europe were trading with deep cuts. The US market ended significantly lower on Friday.

“Domestic markets witnessed a sharp decline, mirroring weakness across Asian markets amid escalating tensions in the Middle East and concerns over potential disruptions to global energy supplies. Investor sentiment turned cautious following Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on the Strait of Hormuz,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

Rising global bond yields signalled heightened inflation and fiscal concerns, while the rupee falling to a record low further pressured markets and triggered FII outflows, he added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 5,518.39 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, bought stocks worth Rs 5,706.23 crore. Foreign investors have pulled out Rs 88,180 crore (about USD 9.6 billion) from Indian equities so far this month.

On Friday, the Sensex climbed 325.72 points, or 0.44 per cent, to settle at 74,532.96. The Nifty edged higher by 112.35 points, or 0.49 per cent, to end at 23,114.50. (PTI)