Midday: Sensex Drops 280 pts as Nifty Loses 55 pts Amid Iran-US War Stalemate

Mumbai, April 28: Indian stocks fell further at noon trade on Tuesday as the US-Iran war crisis continued with no signs of resolution. The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 279 points or 0.36% at 77,025 and the Nifty 50 traded at 24,038, down 55 points or 0.23% as the index pared gains made early in the session and dipped below key support at 24,050 at noon on fresh bouts of selling in banking, financial services and some consumer stocks.

Coal India was the top performer in the Nifty at noon, jumping 2.75%, while Grasim added 1.62% and Adani Enterprises advanced 1.52% on energy shares rallying on reopening trade after Monday’s break and investors buying into commodity stocks. On the flip side, the biggest loser in the Nifty was State Bank of India, down 1.12%, followed by Eternal declining 0.90% and HDFC Life losing 0.57%. Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement were also among the losers at noon.

Midcap and Smallcap Stocks

Nifty Smallcap 100 traded up 0.65%, Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.26% and Nifty Midcap 50 added 0.19% at noon, indicating further rotation into smallercaps despite largecap weakness.

Sector Performances

Top Gainers: Nifty Energy gained 0.96% amid rising crude prices, Nifty CPSE was up 0.85% and Nifty Metal rose 0.53%.

Top Losers: Nifty PSU Bank dropped 1.54%, Nifty Bank declined 0.63% and Nifty Private Bank fell 0.34%.

Global Cues

Market mood soured after US President Donald Trump expressed disappointment over Iran’s latest peace proposal, in which Iran agreed to pause talks on its nuclear programme until war’s endgame and free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz were negotiated. Iran has kept oil shipments from producers in the Middle East off the table for international buyers during the crisis thus far, raising geopolitical concerns and fuelling fears of inflation in importer nations such as India.

Crude Oil Rates

Oil prices hit fresh highs for a seventh straight session on Tuesday as Brent crude futures were trading at $108.68 a barrel to mark its highest close since April 7. US crude, or WTI, rose as much as $96.87 per barrel amid a stalemate in talks to end the war between US and Iran. Experts believe India’s heavy reliance on oil imports, which account for more than 85% of its total consumption, means higher crude costs could negatively impact India through a wider current account deficit, depreciate the rupee and impact the already high inflation prints.

Tuesday Morning Session

Asian shares began the session on a downbeat note with Indian markets opening lower on fresh fears of escalation in tensions between US and Iran, sending crude oil prices skyrocketing that may fuel inflation and derail India’s economic recovery. The Sensex opened lower and was trading at 77,185 down 118 points or 0.15% while the Nifty 50 fell 25 points or 0.10% to 24,068 at the open, erasing a portion of its gains from Monday’s session.

Sources:

• www.bseindia.com
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-market-indices
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/top-gainers-losers