SENSEX plunges over 500 points, NIFTY50 below 24,300 as West Asia tensions resurface

The Indian equity benchmarks fell sharply lower on Wednesday, July 8, as investor sentiment took a knock after geopolitical tensions resurfaced in West Asia sending crude oil prices higher.

The SENSEX fell as much as 569 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday low of 24,230 dragged down by losses in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, State Bank of India, Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance.

As of 9:26 am, the SENSEX was down 530 points at 77,650 and NIFTY50 index dropped 155 points to 24,244.

Asian shares were trading lower weighed down by a selloff in artificial intelligence related shares as market participants turned cautious about their expensive valuations.

Crude prices jumped after United States military launched a new attack on Iran and cancelled the license to sell oil after three tankers were hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz putting pressure on the delicate ceasefire.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.64%, China's Shanghai Composite was trading on a flat note and South Korea's KOSPI dropped 2.2%.

Brent crude prices rose as much as 3.3% to touch an intraday high of $76.6 per barrel.

Back home, selling pressure was broad based as 12 of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) were trading lower led by the NIFTY Oil & Gas index's 1.8% fall. NIFTY PSU Bank, Auto, Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank, Consumer Durables, Realty, Metal and FMCG indices also fell between 0.3% and 1.3%.

On the other hand, IT, pharma and healthcare shares were witnessing buying interest.

Broader markets were also facing selling pressure as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.4% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index dropped 0.3%.

Among the individual shares, PC Jeweller rose as much as 6.5% to hit an intraday high of ₹10.01 after the company said that it has repaid all its outstanding debt under the settlement agreement with two of the 14 consortium banks.

In an exchange filing on Tuesday, the jewellery retailer said the repayments were made in line with its objective of becoming debt-free this quarter. The settlement agreement with the consortium banks was signed on September 30, 2024.

Jio Financial Services was top loser in the NIFTY50 index, the stock fell 2.8% to ₹236. Asian Paints, Shriram Finance, IndiGo, Eicher Motors, Reliance Industries, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and Tata Consumer Products also fell between 1.4% and 2.2%.

On the flip side, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Labs, ONGC, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Coal India, HCL Technologies, SBI Life and Adani Enterprises were top gainers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 1,785 shares were trading lower while 979 were advancing on the NSE.