Indian shares tumbled on Monday as the possibility of prolonged turmoil in the Middle East and the ripple effects of higher oil prices prompted traders to move funds into safe-haven assets.
India imports nearly 85 percent of its crude oil needs and therefore a sharp surge in crude prices to their highest level in four years reignited investor concerns over inflation and India’s external balances.
The Indian rupee slid to its weakest level in a month, falling below the 91-per-dollar level due to concerns about imported inflation and continued foreign institutional investor outflows amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty.
AI-disruption worries, tariff uncertainties and fears of wider problems in the $1.8 trillion global private credit market also kept investors on edge.
The benchmark BSE Sensex fell over 2,700 points to an intraday low of 78,543.73 before recovering some lost ground to end the session down 1,048.34 points, or 1.29 percent, at 80,238.85.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty index plunged 2.28 percent to hit a low of 24603.50 in intraday before settling down 312.95 points, or 1.24 percent, at 24,865.70.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes plummeted 1.2 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
The market breadth was extremely weak on the BSE, with 3,560 shares falling while 823 shares advanced and 145 shares closed unchanged.
Selling was seen across the board despite revised GDP numbers revealing an impressive growth momentum, led by the factory sector.
Among the prominent decliners, airline Indigo slumped 6.3 percent on surging oil prices while construction & engineering giant Larsen & Toubro, which has exposure to the Middle East, slumped 5 percent.
Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, Bajaj FinServ, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki India and Adani Ports lost 2-3 percent.
Indian Shares Slump As Middle East Tensions Escalate
2026-03-02 10:29:28
