Stock markets fall for 3rd day amid escalating tensions in West Asia, higher oil prices weigh

MUMBAI: Stock markets declined for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with the benchmark Sensex closing nearly 374 points lower amid a bearish trend in global equities and higher oil prices due to escalating conflict in West Asia.

The 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 373.93 points, or 0.49 per cent, to settle at 76,570.35, dragged by selling in auto, IT, and banking shares. During the day, it tumbled 808.56 points, or 1.05 per cent, to 76,135.72.

The 50-share NSE Nifty slumped 141.35 points, or 0.59 per cent, to end at 23,914.45. The index moved between a high of 23,914.45 and a low of 23,786.80 during the day.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharat Electronics and Infosys were the major laggards.

Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, NTPC and Titan were among the winners.

"Indian equity benchmarks came under broad-based selling pressure on Wednesday as weak global cues triggered a risk-off move across asset classes," Hariselvan Radhakrishnan, Founder & CEO of HST Wealth, a Research Analyst firm, said.

Broader markets also declined as the BSE SmallCap Select index dropped 0.61 per cent and the MidCap Select index dipped 0.51 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, Auto dropped the most by 1.68 per cent and IT tanked 1.17 per cent. Focused IT (1.10 per cent), Insurance (1.09 per cent), Capital Goods (1.08 per cent), Consumer Discretionary (0.86 per cent) and Consumer Discretionary (0.86 per cent) also closed lower.

Energy, Utilities, Power, Realty, Services, Housing Finance and PSU Bank were the winners.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, climbed 0.40 per cent to USD 95.13 per barrel.

"Indian equity markets extended their losing streak to a third consecutive session, tracking a broad global selloff as renewed US-Iran hostilities reignited concerns over energy supplies and dashed hopes of an early reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

"Rising crude oil prices and higher global bond yields continued to erode risk appetite, keeping investors firmly in risk-off mode," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi tumbled 3.99 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.85 per cent. Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also ended lower.

Markets in Europe were trading in negative territory. US markets ended lower on Tuesday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,143.38 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Sensex slipped 12.99 points, or 0.02 per cent, to close at 76,944.28 on Tuesday. The Nifty slipped 24.60 points, or 0.10 per cent, to end at 24,055.80 on the weekly expiry day.