JK Tyre, Asian Paints, IOC, IndiGo: Crude oil-sensitive stocks tumble up to 17% since Iran conflict; what lies ahead?

Crude oil price-sensitive stocks from sectors like oil & gas, paints, tyres, aviation and cement have lost a significant amount of their value over the last two weeks since the United States, with the help of Israel, attacked Iran, starting the US-Iran conflict on Saturday, February 28.

The oil prices skyrocketed to hit a record high of $119.5 per bbl during the first week of March 2026, soon after the US attacks and Iran’s retaliation, creating a volatile environment weighing down on global equity markets, including the Indian stock market.

On Monday, March 16, 2026, the crude oil prices continued their rise amid the heightened tensions between the United States and Iran after Donald Trump attacked Iran’s key oil export hub, Kharg Island, destroying all military establishments.

During the early market hours on Monday, the Brent crude oil future prices hit a high of $106.50 per barrel (bbl) around 3:45 a.m., while the futures were trading 1.62% higher at $104.78 per bbl as of 3:05 p.m (IST).

Sectoral snapshot

NSE data showed that the NIFTY OIL & GAS index has lost nearly 8% since the beginning of the US-Iran conflict, dropping to 11,286 points as of the stock market close last week, ending Friday, March 13, when compared to its pre-conflict level of 12,265.90 points as of the market close on February 27, 2026.

The NIFTY OIL & GAS index was trading 1.58% or 178 points lower at 11,108.75 points during Monday’s trading session, compared to 11,286 points at the previous market close, according to the exchange data.

Along with the oil & gas index, the NIFTY ENERGY has lost 973 points or 2.6% since the beginning of the conflict, with the index dropping to 36,071.85 points as of Friday’s market close, compared to 37,045.20 points as of the stock market close on February 27, prior to the attacks.

On Monday, March 16, the NIFTY ENERGY index was trading 1.89% or 680 points lower at 35,391.40 points, compared to 36,071.85 points at the previous market close last week, according to the NSE data.

How have the stocks performed since US-Iran conflict?

Reliance Industries (RIL) lost 3.5% in the first week of the conflict as the stock dropped to ₹1,345 apiece as of last week’s market close, before recovering to ₹1,382 close to the levels before the conflict.

Indian Oil Corp. (IOCL) stock has lost over 16% since the beginning of March 2026, and is still trading under the ₹150 per share level. Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) stock dropped 15.7% to ₹369, while Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) also lost nearly 17% as the shares dropped to ₹319.8 as of last week.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Aegis Logistics has lost 12.1%; Mahanagar Gas lost 15%; ONGC lost 5.3%; Oil India lost 2.9%; and Indraprastha Gas lost 8% as of the market close on the second week of March.

Apollo Tyres lost 11.7%; CEAT lost 1.8%; JK Tyre & Industries stock dropped 17.5%; Goodyear India lost 5.7%; and Balkrishna Industries lost 6.9% in the last two weeks since the beginning of the US-Iran conflict.

These crude oil-sensitive stocks will be in focus in the near term as investors are still analysing the effect of the impact of the US-Iran conflict on the supply of global crude oil. Although the stocks took a hit in the first half of March, the second half of the month will be key for the emerging developments of the conflict and the effect of the International Energy Agency’s largest reserve supply release of 400 million barrels of crude oil.