Middle East tensions rattle markets: Sensex crashes over 1,900 points at open

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): Indian stock markets opened with a significant drop on Thursday. The Sensex fell 1,942.22 points, or 2.55 percent, to 74,750.92 and the Nifty declined 580 points or 2.4 percent to 23,197.75. The market witnessed a decline across the board. All indices, including realty, private banks, auto, financial services, PSU banks, consumer durables, services, defense, and metal were in the red.

Along with largecaps, midcaps and smallcaps are also witnessing a big fall. Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 1,194.40 points or 2.12 percent at 55,095.45 and Nifty Smallcap 100 index was down 246.50 points or 1.52 percent at 15,930.95.

In the Sensex pack, 28 out of 30 stocks were in the red. HDFC Bank, L&T, Axis Bank, M&M, Trent, Eternal, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv and Indigo were the losers. Only NTPC and Power Grid were in the green.

The decline in markets is being attributed to rising tensions in the Middle East. Tensions in West Asia have reached a peak following Wednesday's US-Israeli airstrikes on the South Pars gas field and oil and gas facilities in the city of Asaluyeh in southern Iran, and Iran's missile attack on Qatar's largest gas plant, Ras Laffan. This has also led to a significant surge in crude oil prices.

Selling is being seen in most of the Asian markets. Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul were in the red. US markets also closed in the red on Wednesday. The main index Dow closed with a decline of 1.63 percent and the technology Nasdaq closed with a decline of 1.46 percent. Selling by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continues. FIIs sold equities worth Rs 2,714.35 crore on Wednesday. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) invested Rs 3,253.03 crore in equities.