Sensex Opens 1250 Points Lower, Nifty Below 24600 As Israel Strikes On Iran

Stock Market Crash: Domestic equity market began trading on Friday, June 13 with a bloodbath as Israel launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, weighing on investor sentiment. The Sensex opened lower by 1264.17 points, or 1.55 per cent, at 80,427.81. Likewise, the Nifty 50 started down by 415.20 points, or 1.67 per cent, at 24,473.00.

In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the airstrikes were aimed at key parts of Iran’s nuclear and military program.

"We struck at the heart of Iran's nuclear enrichment program, Iran's nuclear weaponization program, Iran's main enrichment facilities, leading nuclear scientists, and ballistic missile programs," Netanyahu said.

"This operation will continue as long as necessary, until we complete the mission," he added.

The broader market indices too mirrored the sentiment, as Nifty Midcap 100 began lower by 2.04 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 by 2.12 per cent. India VIX, the volatility indicator, spiked 14 per cent to 15.98 as soon as the opening bell rung.

All the sectoral indices were deep in the red. Nifty Oil & Gas dropped 1.6 per cent as crude oil prices jumped sharply over 12 per cent after the Israeli strikes. The Nifty PSU Bank index was lower by 1.5 per cent, followed by Nifty Auto, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Realty, Nifty Consumer Durables, and Nifty Media, each of which fell more than 1 per cent.

Nifty Bank, which tracks the performance of top 10 public and private banking stocks, was also trading in the red, lower by 1.2 per cent in early trade.

Sensex, Nifty 50: Top Gainers And Losers

All 30 components of Sensex were in red, with Adani Ports, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Power Grid, Titan, UltraTech Cement, and Tata Motors being the top losers.

From Nifty 50, only ONGC and Bharat Electronics traded in green, while all others traded with losses. Trent, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Adani Ports, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement, Adani Enterprises, and Titan were the biggest losers.

US Market Ends Higher Post Oracle Earnings

In the United States (US), stock market ended higher on Thursday, June 12, buoyed by a strong outlook from Oracle that renewed investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence. A lower-than-expected inflation data released a day earlier also helped the tech stocks gain.

Oracle climbed 13.31 per cent to close at a new all-time high after the database software company reported its fourth quarterly results for the fiscal year FY24. Boeing, on the other hand, weighed on the sentiment as its shares crashed 4.8 per cent after a London-bound Air India flight crashed in Ahemedabad, killing 241 flyers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.24 per cent to close at 42,967.62, the S&P 500 gained 0.38 per cent to finish at 6,045.26, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.24 per cent to 19,662.49.

Asian Markets Trade Lower

Asian markets were trading lower in early trade on June 13 after fresh Israel strikes on Iran weighed on the sentiment. The Hong Kong-based Hang Seng was down by 0.64 per cent, and China’s SSE Composite was trading lower by 0.72 per cent.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged lower by 1.33 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi declined 1.05 per cent.