Sensex falls 483 points amid rising tensions in West Asia

Mumbai, October 9

Equity benchmark index Sensex tumbled nearly 500 points on Monday as investors offloaded finance, banking and energy stocks amid escalating tensions in the West Asia and surging crude oil prices overseas.

Investors stayed on the sidelines and refrained from taking risks amid uncertainty due to the Israel-Hamas conflict, analysts said.

The Sensex fell 483.24 points to settle at 65,512.39. The Nifty declined 141.15 points to end at 19,512.35. Only three Sensex stocks settled in the green, while the Nifty-50 saw its 43 scrips closing in the red.

“Investors dumped equity assets as they turned risk off on concerns that a face-off between Israel and Hamas could further deteriorate the global economy already reeling under higher interest rates and stubbornly high inflation.

“There are concerns that since most of the oil-producing nations are close to the conflict zone, a prolonged war could trigger an upsurge in international crude oil prices. With a fresh surge in crude oil prices, higher oil import bills going ahead would stoke domestic inflation and prompt the central bank to take a hawkish stance,” Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said.

M&M was the top laggard in the Sensex pack, sliding 2.05%, followed by Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, SBI, Asian Paints, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Titan.

However, IT majors HCL Technologies and TCS defied the trend and gained 1.02% and 0.47%, respectively. FMCG firm Hindustan Unilever rose 0.32%.

In the broader market, BSE SmallCap fell the maximum by 1.72%, while MidCap skidded 1.22% and LargeCap lost 0.84%. — PTI

Oil prices jump

• Oil prices surged more than 3% on Monday as military clashes between Israel and Hamas ignited fears of a wider conflict in the West Asia
• Brent crude was up $2.70 to $87.28 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $85.57 a barrel, up $2.78
• Both benchmarks spiked by more than $4 a barrel earlier in the session

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