Sensex sinks 1.2k pts on US-Iran tensions

Mumbai: Across-the-board selling on Dalal Street pulled the sensex down by 1,236 points (1.5%) to close at 82,498 points after the US Fed minutes showed the next rate cut is not as sure as it was expected to be till now, and the escalating geopolitical tensions. All 30 sensex constituents closed in the red and investors lost nearly Rs 7 lakh crore.

The day's session started on a relatively strong note with the sensex up about 250 points on the day, but as the session progressed the index slid to close near the day's low at 82,264 points. On the NSE, the broader Nifty fell 365 points (1.4%) to close at 25,454 points.

According to Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Investments, the markets slid on Thursday due to rising geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran, leading to a broad-based sell-off. "Brent crude surged to its year-to-date high, exacerbating inflationary concerns and triggering heightened market volatility on fear of bottlenecking of the Strait of Hormuz. At the same time uncertainty surrounding the US Fed's rate-cut trajectory and continued weakness of the rupee impacted the domestic market," Nair said.

Among the sensex stocks, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the index's four-digit loss for the day. The day's session also left investors poorer by Rs 6.8 lakh crore with BSE's market capitalisation now at Rs 465.2 lakh crore, official data showed.

On Thursday, selling by foreign funds was comparatively muted with the net selling figure at Rs 880 crore, BSE data showed. Interestingly, domestic funds were also net sellers with the figure at Rs 596 crore. Usually institutional trading data in the recent months have shown that the days foreign funds sell, domestic funds turn net buyers.

During the day's sell-off, among the sectors, real estate, power and auto were sold the most, while healthcare and hospital stocks were the least affected, BSE data showed. At close of trading on BSE, there were 3,011 stocks that closed with losses compared to 1,209 that closed with gains.