Market Reaction: War, Oil Prices, and Investor Caution

Sensex and Nifty Plunge Amid Middle East Tensions, Rising Crude Prices, and FII Outflows​

Mumbai, March 23 – The benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty fell sharply on Monday, following weak trends in global markets as the war in the Middle East continued into its fourth week.

Rising crude oil prices, persistent foreign fund outflows, and a weak rupee contributed to risk-averse investor sentiment.

• The BSE Sensex dropped 1,836.57 points (2.46%) to close at 72,696.39, hitting an intraday low of 72,558.44.
• The NSE Nifty 50 fell 601.85 points (2.60%), ending at 22,512.65.

Among Sensex constituents, Titan declined the most by 6.24%, followed by Trent, UltraTech Cement, Bharat Electronics, InterGlobe Aviation, Tata Steel, and HDFC Bank. Winners included HCL Tech, Power Grid, Infosys, and Tech Mahindra.

Brent crude rose 0.97% to USD 113.3 per barrel.

Global Market Trends​

Asian markets closed lower, with:

• South Korea Kospi down 6.49%
• Japan Nikkei 225 lower
• Shanghai SSE Composite lower
• Hong Kong Hang Seng lower

European markets were trading with significant cuts, while the US market ended lower on Friday.

Investor Sentiment and Fund Flows​

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Ltd, noted that domestic markets mirrored weakness in Asia amid escalating Middle East tensions and concerns over global energy supply disruptions.

• Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth ₹5,518.39 crore on Friday.
• Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth ₹5,706.23 crore.
• FIIs have pulled out ₹88,180 crore (approx. USD 9.6 billion) from Indian equities so far this month.

On Friday, the Sensex had gained 325.72 points (0.44%) to close at 74,532.96, while the Nifty rose 112.35 points (0.49%) to 23,114.50.