Sensex falls 200 points, Nifty dips on Middle East conflict concerns

The S&P BSE Sensex was down 183.91 points at 82,306.09 at 9:46 am, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 52.25 points to 25,188.05.

In Short

• Sensex, Nifty continue to fall amid Middle East tensions
• Nifty IT gains, all other sectoral indices trade in the red
• FIIs sell heavily, shift focus from India to Hong Kong

Benchmark stock market indices continued to weaken on Friday as investors remained concerned about the deepening conflict in the Middle East and increase in foreign outflows.

The S&P BSE Sensex was down 183.91 points at 82,306.09 at 9:46 am, while the NSE Nifty50 fell 52.25 points to 25,188.05. In the previous session, both the Sensex and Nifty faced deep losses.

All other broader market indices were trading in negative territory as volatility spiked due to the ongoing global market uncertainty.

Nifty IT was the only sectoral index that was trading in the green, while all the others were trading in negative territory.

The top five gainers on the Nifty50 were SBI Life, ONGC, Titan, Wipro and Axis Bank. On the other hand, the top losers were BPCL, Bajaj Finance, Trent, Hero MotoCorp, NTPC and Cipla.

Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said, “The sharp correction of 2.1% in the Nifty yesterday was more due to the massive FII selling rather than fears of Middle East tensions escalating.”

“The last three days have witnessed huge FII selling of Rs 30,614 crores in the cash market. FIIs are moving money from expensive India to cheap Hong Kong on expectations that the monetary and fiscal stimulus being implemented by the Chinese authorities will stimulate the Chinese economy and improve earnings of Chinese companies,” he added.

‘Tug of war’

Vijayakumar explained that the market direction in the near-term will be influenced by the tug-of-war going on between the FIIs and DIIs.

“The present reality is that DIIs have deeper pockets than FIIs and they have greater conviction to buy the India Growth Story,” he added.

He went on to say that the stock market will start responding to the Q2 results which will start flowing from next week onwards, adding that leading banks are poised for a recovery.