The Indian stock market witnessed another round of selling pressure in Wednesday’s trade, March 11, as escalating tensions in the Middle East have kept investor’s sentiment fragile.
After a 1% rally in the previous session, the Nifty 50 reversed its gains, falling 1.63% to the 23,866 level, while the BSE Sensex also dropped sharply by 1.72% to the 76,763 level. The broader markets, too, saw heavy bleeding, with the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices falling 1.25% and 0.36%, respectively.
Selling gripped all major sectors, with the auto pack hit the hardest as the Nifty Auto index crashed 3.15%, while the Nifty Private Bank index tumbled 2.41%.
Other key sectoral indices such as Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Realty, Nifty IT, and Nifty Chemicals also fell over 1%. Pharma and oil & gas were the only two sectors that saw buying interest.
The ongoing Israel–Iran conflict has entered its 12th day on Wednesday as tensions continue to simmer, with nations refusing to step back and firing missiles at each other’s territory, especially targeting energy infrastructure.
These attacks have disrupted the crude oil supply chain, fueling concerns that higher prices could drag down the global economy, which has recently been hit by trade shocks from the Trump administration.
(more to come)