In a daring response, Israel has launched a missile attack on Iran, prompting widespread fears of escalating warfare. The fallout from these actions extended to the stock market today, with the Sensex and Nifty experiencing sharp declines. At market opening, the Sensex plummeted by 489 points, opening at 71,999.65, and Nifty tumbled over 200 points, trading at 21,788.25.
Within the BSE Sensex's top 30 shares, only ITC and Titan were trading on an upswing, while the remaining 28 suffered losses. Infosys dropped nearly two percent. Similarly, stocks like AXIS, L&T, and Nestle declined by more than 1.50 percent. On the NSE side, a staggering 1800 shares declined while only 344 saw an uptick.
All sectors encounter heavy losses
Out of 2,214 shares on the NSE, 53 hit their lower circuit and 40 reached their upper circuit. 15 stocks fell to their 52-week low. Bank Nifty broke by nearly 300 percent, while midcap and smallcap indices plummeted by up to 150 points. Moreover, all Nifty sectors from auto to IT, healthcare, and oil reported losses exceeding one percent.
Stocks facing the biggest decline
Shares taking the steepest dives included NBCC India at 3 percent, Tata Communications close to 5 percent, Nykaa at 3 percent, HPCL around 3 percent, BPCL at 3.39 percent, Canara Bank at 2.89 percent, and ICICI Prudential shares dropped by 3.72 percent.
Three major reasons for stock market decline
The market opened to the jolting news of Israel’s pre-dawn missile attack on Iran's Isfahan airport on Friday, which lead to decrease in oil prices and share market prices. Furthermore, Infosys reported an 8 percent decrease in its ADR on Thursday, triggering sell-offs in this market-leading firm. Continuous declines have plagued the global market since last week, topped off by today's Sensex expiry, adding to the sell-off pressure.
