Indian Shares Slump As Iran War Rages

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell sharply on Friday as the Middle East war unleashed by U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran swelled outwards to Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Azerbaijan, raising concerns about the outlook for trade, prices and investment.

Oil prices continued to rise and were set for hefty weekly gains as the furious military operations in the Middle East region entered 7th day.

Brent crude surged nearly 16 percent since the Iran conflict began and briefly touched $86 per barrel, raising concerns about the potential impact on rupee, fund flows, inflation and the import bill.

Indian refiners are now balancing purchases from both Russian cargoes at sea & other sources to ensure an uninterrupted domestic fuel supply after the United States issued a temporary 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian crude oil already in transit.

The benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled 1,097 points, or 1.37 percent, to 78,918.90 while the broader NSE Nifty index plummeted 315.45 points, or 1.27 percent, to 24,450.45.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes slid 0.7 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,303 shares falling while 1,895 shares advanced and 176 shares closed unchanged.

Among the prominent decliners, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki India, IndiGo, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj FinServ, SBI, HDFC Bank, UltraTech Cement, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and Eternal lost 2-3 percent.

IT stocks saw selective buying, with Infosys and HCL Technologies closing with modest gains. Sun Pharma gained 0.7 percent, Reliance Industries added 1.1 percent and BEL surged 1.8 percent.

Defense stocks surged due to expectations of increased spending in the wake of heightened geopolitical tensions. DCX Systems soared 7.4 percent and Mazagon Dock climbed 5 percent.