The Sensex fell further by about 1,000 points on Wednesday after opening lower in early trade amid uncertainty related to negotiations between the United States and Iran following new Iranian strikes, an increase in crude oil prices and continued foreign fund outflows.
At around 11:15 am on Wednesday, the Sensex was trading at 73,697, down about 1,000 points from the previous close of 74,649.84.
The 50-share NSE Nifty index also fell in early trade on Wednesday, falling 177.40 points to 23,302.50.
The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 699.74 points to 73,959.48 in early trade. Among the 30 Sensex companies, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HCL Tech, ITC and Eternal were among the top laggards from the opening.
“The moderate escalation in the conflict in West Asia has once again pushed the price of Brent crude closer to US$97, indicating that India is getting no relief from the energy shock,” news agency PTI quoted VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments Limited, as saying.
Behind the stock market decline
The stock market decline comes after Iran launched missiles towards Kuwait and Bahrain, raising fears of resuming its war with the United States and Israel, which has currently been halted under a fragile ceasefire while negotiations to reach a permanent truce agreement remain at an impasse. The United States said that the missiles failed to hit their targets. The two missiles fired at Kuwait collapsed on the way, while US and Bahraini forces intercepted the missiles directed at Bahrain.
On the other hand, the US Trade Representative proposed an additional 12.5% tariff on 54 countries, including India, over its failure to ban the import of goods produced using forced labor.
The action follows investigations launched against 60 countries over what the US Trade Representative described as their failure to effectively impose and enforce bans on imports made using forced labor.
The BSE Sensex on Tuesday ended a four-day losing streak and rebounded 382 points after a strong rally in IT stocks.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 382.50 points, or 0.52 per cent, to settle at 74,649.84 with 20 stocks closing higher and 10 stocks incurring losses. The barometer jumped 1,047.07 points to 74,862.19 from its intraday low of 73,815.12, according to the data mentioned in the PTI report.
The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 100.95 points, or 0.43 per cent, to close at 23,483.55 points.
Among the 30 Sensex companies, Tata Consultancy Services jumped the most at 6.53 per cent. Infosys shares rose 5.66 percent, HCL Tech rose 4.08 percent, and Tech Mahindra rose 1.76 percent. Adani Ports, Titan, Eternal, HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were also among the gainers.
