US Strikes On Iran Trigger Broad-Based Sell-Off, Sensex Starts 700 Points Lower, Nifty Below 25,000

US Bombs Iran: Domestic equities opened sharply lower on Monday, June 23 as investors reacted to the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, triggering a broad-based sell-off. The Sensex slipped 704.10 points, or 0.85 per cent, to open at 81,704.07, while the Nifty 50 began the session 172.65 points, or 0.69 per cent, lower at 24,939.75.

After initially pushing for a diplomatic solution to the Iran-Israel conflict, US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that American forces had successfully struck three key nuclear sites in Iran — Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The move is seen by investors as a major setback to Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, likely delaying its ability to develop nuclear weapons in the near term.

The negative sentiment was felt across the board, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Smallcap 100 down 0.67 per cent and 0.73 per cent, respectively. The Nifty 500, which tracks over 90 per cent of NSE-listed companies by free-float market cap, also opened 0.7 per cent lower.

Sensex, Nifty 50: Top Gainers And Losers

28 out of the 30 Sensex stocks were in red. Only Bharat Electronics and Bharti Airtel showed strength in the initial trades. The sell-off was led by Infosys, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), HCL Technologies, Power Grid, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Reliance Industries.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Bharat Electronics, and Nestle India were in the green. ONGC was quoting around flat levels, showing back-and-forth motion. Leading the losses were Infosys, Shriram Finance, Hero MotoCorp, M&M, Power Grid Corporation, Jio Financial Services, TCS, HCL Technologies and Reliance Industries

IT And Auto Lead Losses, Nifty Media Up 1.5%

Nifty IT and Nifty Auto emerged as the biggest losers among the sectoral indices, trading lower in the range 1 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

Nifty Bank was trading lower by 0.74 per cent. Other major sectoral indices, including Nifty Financial Services, Nifty FMCG, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Energy were also deep in the red.

Meanwhile, sectors like Pharma, Healthcare, Metal, Realty, and Consumer Durables saw relatively milder losses of under 0.5 per cent.

Only Nifty Media was quoting in the green, up by 1.5 per cent, after starting the session lower.

How Middle East Markets Reacted To US’ Strikes On Iran

Tel Aviv’s stock market rallied to record highs on Sunday, as investors cheered US involvement in the conflict anticipating an immediate resolution. Tel Aviv’s blue-chip index TA-35 closed higher by 1.53 per cent, and the broader TA-125 index ended up by 1.77 per cent. In the past week, the TA-35 had gained in all the five sessions, surging nearly 6 per cent.

In the Gulf, Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul index opened slightly higher but later pared gains to end the day down by 0.34 per cent.

Qatar’s QE General advanced 0.19 per cent, while Bahrain’s BAX edged up 0.27 per cent.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s EGX30 stood out as the region’s top performer, surging 2.67 per cent by the close of trade.

Asian Markets In Red

Asian markets largely traded lower on Monday, June 23.

At the time of filing this report, Japan's Nikkei 225 was trading lower by 0.26 per cent, South Korea's KOSPI was down 0.44 per cent, and Hong Kong-based Hang Seng had slipped 0.13 per cent. China's SSE Composite, however, was trading higher by 0.15 per cent after starting in the red.

Earlier on Friday, June 20, US stocks closed largely in the red. The Dow Jones closed higher by 35.16 points, or 0.08 per cent, to close at 42,206.82. On the other hand, the S&P 500 slipped 13.03 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 5,967.84, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 98.86 points, or 0.51 per cent, ending the session at 19,447.41.