SENSEX falls over 300 points, NIFTY50 below 23,700; Reliance, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank top drags

The Indian equity benchmarks edged lower on Tuesday, September 8, as sentiment remained weak tracking a surge in crude prices amid rising geopolitical tensions in West Asia.

The SENSEX fell as much as 383 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 23,680 dragged by index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services.

As of 9:25 am, the SENSEX dropped 372 points to 75,761 and NIFTY50 index declined 99 points to 23,680.

Brent crude futures rose above $97 per barrel on Tuesday as risks of a prolonged conflict in the Middle East grew after Iran threatened to retaliate against any new US attacks on its assets, heightening worries over supply disruption.

Brent rose ⁠to its highest level since July 24 in the previous session, as traders continued to build a risk premium into prices amid heightened tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global crude shipments, news agency Reuters reported.

Iran warned on Monday that energy infrastructure across the Gulf, including US oil and gas interests, was vulnerable. This follows tit-for-tat strikes during the weekend, with no sign of progress towards a diplomatic breakthrough.

Back home, selling pressure was broad-based as all the 15 major sector gauges, barring the measure of metal shares, were trading lower led by NIFTY IT index's 0.7% fall. NIFTY Bank, Financial Services, Auto, PSU Bank, Private Bank, Consumer Durables and Oil & Gas indices also fell between 0.2% and 0.5%.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.21% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.3%.

Among the individual shares, GE Vernova T&D rose as much as 7.72% to an intraday high ₹4,704.40 after the company said it has emerged as the L1 bidder for a Power Grid Corporation of India project.

The project involves the design and establishment of a 6,000 MW, ±800 kV HVDC LCC terminal station for evacuating renewable power from Barmer II in Rajasthan to South Kalamb in Maharashtra.

The project involves two 3,000 MW terminal stations and will be executed over multiple years.

The company did not disclose the order value in its exchange filing.

Defence shares such as Data Patterns, Apollo Microsystems, BEML, Paras Defence, Hindustan Aeronautics and Zen Technologies rose between 2.8% and 5.4% after defence ministry on Monday approved acquisition of military hardware for the three services including radars, advanced light helicopters and mechanical mine layers at an estimated cost of ₹1.10 lakh crore to boost the military's overall combat prowess.

The procurement proposals were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

"The DAC accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) that is in-principle administrative approval to various acquisition proposals of the defence forces at an estimated cost of about ₹1,10,000 crore," the ministry said.

Trent was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 1.51% to ₹2,772. Shriram Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors PV, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Larsen & Toubro and IndiGo also fell between 0.74% and 1.42%.

On the flip side, Bharat Electronics, HDFC Life, Hindalco, Eternal, Coal India, Hindustan Unilever, Dr Reddy's Labs and Adani Ports were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,639 shares were declining while 1,399 were advancing on the NSE.