NIFTY50 defends 24,000 at close, SENSEX plunges 1,352 points; RIL, Wipro, Infosys among top gainers

Indian equity benchmarks ended significantly lower on Monday, amid broad-based selling across sectors and persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Markets made a gap-down opening, as investors remained cautious after global crude oil prices surged past $115 per barrel following production cuts by major Middle Eastern producers, including Kuwait, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. However, markets pared some losses from day's low points in the second half of the session, supported by value buying at lower levels.

Traders were concerned as a finance ministry report cautioned that a prolonged crisis in the Middle East can have adverse implications on the exchange rate and may stoke inflationary pressures on account of rising prices of petroleum goods and fertilisers.

Sentiments remained downbeat as Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹6,030.38 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

European equity markets traded in red as investors braced for a prolonged conflict in the Middle East that could send energy costs even higher, risking inflation and regional economic growth. Asian markets ended in red as oil prices surged above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022 amid escalating political tensions in West Asia.

The SENSEX ended at 77566 down by 1352 points or 1.71% after trading in a range of 76424.55 and 77711. 5 stocks were advancing against 25 stocks declining on the index.

The top losing sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto down by 3.89%, Bankex down by 3.16%, Oil & Gas down by 3.11%, PSU down by 2.95% and Basic Materials down by 2.77%, while there were no gaining sectoral indices on the BSE.

The NIFTY50 ended at 24028, down by 422.40 points or 1.73% after trading in a range of 23697 and 24078. 8 stocks were advancing against 42 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on NIFTY50 were Wipro up by 1.59%, Reliance Industries up by 1.37%, Apollo Hospital up by 0.86%, Infosys up by 0.57% and HCL Technologies up by 0.41%. On the flip side, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles down by 5.29%, Ultratech Cement down by 5.08%, Maruti Suzuki down by 4.67%, Eicher Motors down by 4.53% and Mahindra & Mahindra down by 4.35% were the top losers.

European markets were trading lower; France’s CAC fell 154 points or 1.93% to 7,839, Germany’s DAX lost 388 points or 1.65% to 23,202, and the UK’s FTSE 100 decreased 123 points or 1.2% to 10,161.