Benchmark stock market indices tanked on Thursday as investor sentiment dampened over President Donald Trump’s fresh speech on Iran war, mentioning the US will hit Iran hard in the coming weeks.
The S&P BSE Sensex tumbled 1,401.01 points to 71,733.32, while the NSE Nifty50 tanked 439.55 points to 22,239.85 as of 9:27 am.
Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited, said that with President Trump’s declaration ‘we are going to hit Iran extremely hard in the next two to three weeks’, market sentiments have again turned negative.
“Brent crude spiked around 5% to $105 and the US 10-year bond yield again firmed up to 4.36 percent negatively impacting gold and silver prices, though marginally,” he added.
Meanwhile, FPIs continued selling heavily with a sell figure of Rs 8331 crores on April 1st. The high crude price, the widening trade deficit, the fear of declining remittances and sustained FPI selling are acting cumulatively to put high pressure on the rupee which continues to decline despite RBI’s decisions on restrictions on dollar futures deals.
President Trump’s statement that “we will finish the job in two to three weeks” cannot be taken at face value since the president has been notoriously inconsistent in all his views. He can change his position anytime.
The March auto numbers reflect great resilience in the sector, and this has the potential to keep auto stocks relatively strong even in an otherwise weak market.”