Crude oil shock rattles markets

Sensex crashes 1,353 pts, Nifty falls 422 pts, ₹8.6L-cr wealth wiped out

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THE EQUITY MARKETS and the rupee continued to bear the brunt of the war in West Asia on Monday as Brent crude prices breached the $100-per-barrel mark, first-time in 42 months (since September 2022), amid rising geopolitical tensions. Both the Sensex and Nifty lost over 3% at the start of the session, though they recovered significantly to close over 1.7% lower.

The Sensex plunged 2,494.35 points, or 3.16%, at the start of the day. However, it recovered 1,142 points, or 1.49%, from the day’s low to close at 77,566.16 — down 1,352 points (1.71%), marking its worst fall since February 1. HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI together accounted for 605 points, or 45%, of the Sensex’s 1,352-point decline.

The Nifty slumped 752 points intraday, but recovered 330 points or 1.4%, ending the session at 24,028.05 — down 422 points (1.73%).

The market breadth remained sharply negative, with 3,379 losers against 972 gainers on the BSE. The broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices fell 2.12% and 2.35%, respectively.

Despite the sharp decline, the domestic indices performed relatively better compared with the Asian peers. South Korea led the losses with a 5.96% fall, followed by Japan (down 5.20%), the Philippines (down 4.97%), Taiwan (down 4.43%) and Indonesia (down 3.27%).