Stock Market Today: Sensex Opens Flat With Negative Bias, Nifty Starts Below 24,800

Stock Market Today: The Sensex and Nifty opened marginally lower on June 20. The Sensex opened flat with a negative bias at 81354.85 down by 0.008 per cent or 7.02 points lower. Likewise, the Nifty 50 started with some marginal losses as it opened 5.6 points lower or 0.022 per cent lower at 24787.65.

Israel Iran Conflict

Conflict between Israel and Iran has now extended for the eighth day. On June 19 tensions between the two countries escalated further as Israel struck Iran’s Arak heavy water facility. Following the attack Iran also launched multiple missiles. On the other hand Iran-backed militant groups have issued threats, claiming that they will destroy American bases in Iraq if the U.S. intermediates in the conflict.

Broader Market Indices Open Mixed

On June 20, the Nifty MidCap 100 opened higher while the Nifty SmallCap 100 opened in the red. Soon after opening the Nifty MidCap 100 traded higher by 0.08 per cent while the Nifty SmallCap 100 traded 0.2 per cent lower. Nearly all the sectoral indices traded flat with marginal gains in early trade except the Nifty Pharma and the Nifty Oil & Gas index which traded lower by up to 0.02 per cent soon after the market opened.

Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank Decline

Shares of Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank declined the most among Nifty 50 stocks in early trade by up to 2.22 per cent. On the other hand shares of Eternal Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, State Bank of India and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd traded higher by up to 0.98 per cent among constituents of the benchmark Nifty in early trade

Asian Markets On June 20

Wall Street indices remained closed on June 19 on the occasion of Juneteenth. On June 20, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index opened in the red, at the time of writing the index slid 42.77 points or 0.11 per cent to trade at 38,445.57 levels. Other Asian indices such as the Shanghai Composite also opened lower but traded 0.11 per cent higher at the time of writing. South Korea’s Kospi and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index opened higher and traded higher by up to 0.93 per cent in the early hours of June 20.

Commodity Prices On June 20

Crude oil prices showed a mixed trend as WTI Crude traded higher by $0.53 or 0.71 per cent at $75.67 on the other hand Brent Crude traded lower by $1.95 or 2.47 per cent at $76.9 at the time of writing. Demand for safe haven assets rremaind high amid looming uncertainty on account of the tensions between Israel and Iran. According to the Goodreturns website, the price of 1 gram of 24 carat gold has increased by Re 1 to Rs 10,122. A similar price rise was also seen in the price of 22 carat and 18 carat purity gold. The price of one gram of 22 carat gold was around Rs 9,281 and the price of one gram of 18 carat purity gold was Rs 7594.