Domestic equities started deep in the red on Monday, March 23, tracking weakness across global markets and extending their losing streak into a fifth straight week. The mood remained fragile as escalating tensions between the United States (US) and Iran continued to unsettle investors.
The benchmarks started with a huge gap-down and slid to their 11-month lows in early session. The BSE Sensex slipped as much as 1,555.62 points, or 2.08 per cent, to hit an intraday low at 72,977.34, while the NSE Nifty 50 tumbled up to 480 points, or 2.07 per cent, to touch the day's low at 22,634.55.
The broader market experiences even more intense meltdown as both the Nifty Midcap 100 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 plunged around 4 per cent each. Nifty 500, which represents more than 92 per cent of the total free-float market cap of all NSE-listed stocks, was down by more than 3 per cent.
All sectoral indices were trading in the negative territory. Nifty Metal, Nifty Realty, and Nifty PSU Bank lost the most, falling more than 4 per cent each. Nifty Consumer Durables was down by around 5 per cent. Nifty Bank, which tracks the performance of 14 most valuable and actively traded banking stocks, was down by 3.25 per cent.
Nifty IT, on the other hand, was relatively less affected, as it traded only 0.30 per cent lower.
Nifty 50: Top Gainers & Losers
Leading losses on the 50-share index was Shriram Finance, and IndiGo, which fell more than 6 per cent each.
Adani Enterprises, UltraTech Cement, Titan, JSW Steel, Jio Financial Services, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Life Insurance, Adani Ports and Tata Steel also fell between 4 per cent and 5 per cent.
Barring Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, and ONGC, all other constituents of Nifty 50 index were in red.
Why Is Stock Market Down Today
The immediate trigger of today's sell-off is the escalating exchange of threats between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow but important shipping route that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply. Any threat to this corridor tends to push crude oil prices higher and, in turn, raises concerns for economies like India that rely heavily on oil imports.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned that Washington would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Iran responded with counter-threats, saying it would target energy infrastructure and desalination facilities across the Gulf if the US follows through on its warning.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said any strike on the country’s power plants would be “immediately” met with retaliatory action against energy and oil assets across the region.
“Critical infrastructure and energy and oil infrastructure throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and irreversibly destroyed, and oil prices will rise for a long time,” Ghalibaf said in a post on X.
On Sunday, Ghalibaf expanded the warning to include financial players, saying holders of US Treasurys and those that “finance the US military budget” could be seen as legitimate targets, along with military bases.
Crude oil prices were largely stable in early trading hours on March 23. Brent crude was up 1.70 per cent at $108.20 per barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil was up 1.56 per cent at $99.76 per barrel.
Japan's Nikkei slipped 3.50 per cent, South Korea's Kospi tumbled 6.50 per cent, China's CSI 300 fell 3.26 per cent, and the Hong Kong-based Hang Seng tanked 3.35 per cent.
