The sell-off in the Indian stock market further deepened in Monday’s session, March 30, as the war in West Asia stretched into its fifth week, keeping riskier assets out of investors’ favour, while relentless selling by overseas investors hammered the key indices, pushing them toward their worst monthly decline in six years.
The markets opened the session lower, and selling continued throughout the day, with the Nifty 50 eventually settling at the day’s low of 22,352, down 2% compared to Friday’s close, while the S&P BSE Sensex lost another 2.08% in trade to close at 72,053.
As the sell-off dragged into the third session, both indices closed the month with double-digit losses, declining over 11%, marking their worst monthly drop since March 2020. The broader markets, too, faced severe selling throughout March, with both the Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices crashing up to 11%.
Among sectoral indices, the Nifty PSU Bank once again stood as the worst performer in today’s trade, falling 4.5%. It was followed by the Nifty Realty, Nifty Media, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Chemicals indices, all falling over 2%.
In a further escalation, Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen entered the Middle East war, reportedly launching a barrage of missiles on Israel over the weekend, which kept crude oil prices marching higher, putting them on track for a record monthly increase.
The war’s targets have now expanded beyond energy facilities and military bases to residential areas, as the US, Israel, and Iran launch attacks on key populated locations.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday, President Donald Trump said he wants to “take the oil in Iran” and could seize the export hub of Kharg Island, a move that could trigger significant retaliation from Tehran. Earlier this month, the US struck military sites on the island, Bloomberg reported.
(more to come)