Indian markets crash: Investors wipe out Rs 7 lakh crore as Israel-Iran tensions roil global stocks

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): Indian stock markets closed with significant losses on Monday amid the Israel-Iran war. The Sensex closed down 1,048.34 points, or 1.29 percent, at 80,238.85, and the Nifty fell 312.95 points, or 1.24 percent, to 24,865.70.

Due to the huge fall, the market cap of all the companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has declined by Rs 7 lakh crore to Rs 456 lakh crore, which was Rs 463 lakh crore on Friday.

Among the indices, Nifty Infra (2.23 per cent), Nifty Auto (2.20 per cent), Nifty Consumer Durables (2.15 per cent), Nifty Oil & Gas (2.15 per cent), Nifty PSU (1.84 per cent), Nifty Media (1.82 per cent), Nifty Realty (1.61 per cent) and Nifty Energy (1.61 per cent) closed lower.

On the other hand, Nifty India Defence (0.49 percent), Nifty Metal (0.24 percent) and Nifty Pharma (0.02 percent) were the only gainers in the Sensex pack. BEL, Sun Pharma and ITC were the gainers in the Sensex pack. Indigo, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, Trent, Eternal, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, NTPC, SBI and Axis Bank were the losers.

Along with largecaps, smallcaps and midcaps also saw declines. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 935.10 points or 1.58 percent at 58,180.50, and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index was down 296.50 points or 1.75 percent at 16,632.40. Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities, said, "Nifty had a weak opening due to the tense situation in the Middle East. On the daily timeframe, the index has slipped below the rising trendline, indicating increasing weakness in the market. The RSI is still in a bearish crossover, confirming weak momentum."

He further stated that support for the Nifty is at 24,600. A break below this level could accelerate the market's decline. The resistance level for the market is 25,000.