New Delhi– Indian equity markets slumped on Friday amid rising geopolitical tensions between Israel and Iran, and a sharp surge in global crude oil prices. The escalating conflict dampened investor sentiment worldwide, triggering widespread selloffs across sectors.
The benchmark Sensex plunged as much as 1,339 points during early trading, hitting an intra-day low of 80,354.59 before recovering some ground. It eventually closed at 81,118.60, down 573.6 points or 0.7 percent. The broader Nifty 50 index also saw significant losses, ending the day at 24,718.6, down 169.6 points or 0.68 percent.
“Nifty continued to show weakness on Friday amidst geopolitical tension between Israel and Iran and rising international crude oil prices,” said Nagaraj Shetti, Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities. He noted the formation of a short-term top reversal pattern at the 25,222 level on the daily chart, indicating a negative short-term trend, though the medium-term trend remains positive.
Out of the 30 stocks on the Sensex, major drags included ITC, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, and HDFC Bank—all declining by more than 1 percent. On the positive side, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Sun Pharma, and Maruti Suzuki ended the session in the green.
Broader market indices also reflected bearish sentiment. The Nifty Midcap100 slipped by 0.24 percent, while the Nifty Smallcap100 dropped 0.43 percent, indicating broad-based selling across segments.
Among sectoral indices, public sector banks and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) were the hardest hit. The Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty FMCG indices both declined over 1 percent. Other key sectors including metals, financial services, auto, energy, pharma, consumer durables, and oil & gas also ended lower.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices spiked amid fears of supply disruptions due to the conflict. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude benchmark surged 8.57 percent to $73.87 per barrel.
Reflecting the heightened investor anxiety, the India VIX—an index measuring market volatility and fear—jumped 7.6 percent to 15.08, signaling a potential period of elevated market turbulence.
“Market sentiment was notably impacted by heightened geopolitical tensions following Israel’s military strike on Iran, which significantly increased risk aversion among investors,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
With tensions in the Middle East continuing to escalate, analysts expect volatility to persist in the coming sessions as markets react to unfolding developments. (Source: IANS)
