Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined 2% in early trade on Thursday amid rising geopolitical tensions following US President Donald Trump's warning of intensified military actions against Iran, driving crude oil prices higher.
Unabated foreign fund outflows also added to the weakness in domestic equities.
The 30-share BSE Sensex plummeted by 1,433.72 points, or 1.96%, to 71,700.60. The 50-share NSE Nifty dived 445.70 points, or 1.97%, to 22,233.70 in the morning trade.
1 April 2026
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All the 30-Sensex firms were trading lower, with Sun Pharmaceuticals, IndiGo, Adani Ports, Eternal, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, NTPC, State Bank of India, Trent, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, and PowerGrid emerging as the major laggards.
"With President Trump's declaration 'we are going to hit Iran extremely hard in the next two to three weeks,' market sentiments have again turned negative.
"Brent crude spiked around 5% to $105, and the US 10-year bond yield again firmed up to 4.36%, negatively impacting gold and silver prices, though marginally," V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹8,331.15 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, bought stocks worth ₹7,171.80 crore.
"The high crude price, the widening trade deficit, the fear of declining remittances and sustained FPI selling are acting cumulatively to put high pressure on the rupee, which continues to decline despite RBI's decisions on restrictions on dollar futures deals," Vijayakumar added.
Broader Asian markets were trading lower, with South Korea's Kospi benchmark falling by 4.31%, Japan's Nikkei 225 index declining 2.24%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng plummeting 1.04%, and Shanghai's SSE Composite index slipping 0.53%.
Meanwhile, the US market ended significantly higher on Wednesday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, traded 4.44% higher to $105.65 per barrel.
On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 1,186.77 points to settle at 73,134.32. The 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 348 points to end at 22,679.40.
