Midday Report June 3, 2026: Sensex Sheds 907 points, Nifty Below 23,220 as Iran War Fears and IT Rout Deepen Wednesday Selloff

Mumbai, June 3: Domestic capital markets were deep in the red at midday on Wednesday, with the selloff intensifying through the session as the Iran war flared anew and the Nifty IT index buckled under heavy selling pressure.

The BSE Sensex was down 907.22 points or 1.22% at 73,742.62 as of 11:34, while the Nifty 50 shed 265.65 points or 1.13% to trade at 23,217.90 by 11:36 a significant deterioration from the opening levels and well below the psychologically important 23,300 mark. The session was shaping up as one of the sharper single-day declines in recent weeks, with the fear gauge India VIX surging 8.43% to 16.65 from its previous close of 15.36, signalling that the market was pricing in materially higher near-term volatility as geopolitical risk escalated.

The damage was concentrated in the technology sector, which had led Tuesday’s sharp recovery only to reverse aggressively on Wednesday as global sentiment soured on the back of the Iran conflict. The Nifty IT index was the session’s worst-performing sectoral gauge by a wide margin, falling 4.99% to 29,565.35 from its previous close of 31,116.55 an intraday drop of over 1,550 points in a sharp reversal of Tuesday’s AI-optimism-driven rally.

The escalation in the Iran war was the single biggest catalyst for the session’s selling. Fresh hostilities saw Iranian ballistic missiles fired at Kuwait and Bahrain, with U.S. Central Command confirming that all attacks were either intercepted or failed, while U.S. forces carried out retaliatory strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz.

Gainers & Losers

The gainers list on the Nifty 50 was thin at midday, with most stocks firmly in the red. Apollo Hospitals emerged as the top performer, with its last traded price at ₹8,266.50 against a previous session close of ₹8,089.50, rising 2.19%. Max Healthcare followed at ₹960.05 versus its previous close of ₹948.70, up 1.20%, while Maruti Suzuki gained modestly to ₹13,107 from ₹13,022, advancing 0.65%. ONGC edged up 0.36% to ₹266 from ₹265.05, and Trent added marginally to ₹4,225.50 from ₹4,210.40, gaining 0.36% all five outperformers coming from defensive or commodity-linked segments that benefited from the risk-off tone.

Technology stocks dominated the losers, inflicting the deepest wounds on the Nifty. TCS was the single biggest drag on the index, collapsing 8.22% to an LTP of ₹2,245.80 from its previous close of ₹2,446.90 a loss of over ₹200 per share on enormous volumes. Tech Mahindra fell 5.03% to ₹1,492.30 from ₹1,571.40, HCL Technologies dropped 4.24% to ₹1,190.80 from ₹1,243.50, and Infosys declined 3.71% to ₹1,223.70 from ₹1,270.80; ITC rounded off the top five losers with a 2.67% fall to ₹275.70 from ₹283.25, dragged lower by weak consumer sentiment and broad risk-off selling.

Broad Markets & Sectoral Indices

In the broader market, the steepest declines among major indices were in the Nifty 50 (-1.14% to 23,216.15 from 23,483.55), Nifty 100 (-1.13% to 24,215.50 from 24,491.30) and Nifty 200 (-1.13% to 13,423.30 from 13,577.00), all tracking the large-cap selloff closely.

Sectorally, the damage was most severe in Nifty IT (-4.99% to 29,565.35 from 31,116.55), Nifty India Digital (-2.86% to 7,838.05 from 8,068.50), and the Nifty India Corporate Group Index (-2.71% to 14,030.55 from 14,421.90), while Nifty Healthcare was the only notable bright spot among sectoral indices, inching up 0.09% to 15,201.95 from 15,188.20, as defensive buying in pharmaceutical stocks offered a slim buffer against the broad-based carnage.

Middle East Conflict

The conflict has now stretched past three months, with the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to maritime traffic and a shaky ceasefire repeatedly punctured by flare-ups from both sides. Iran and the U.S. had signalled last week that a tentative initial agreement to halt the war was within reach, but the two sides have yet to formalise the deal, and Iranian media reported on Tuesday that Tehran had gone silent on Washington for several days. President Trump pushed back, insisting in a social media post that bilateral conversations had been ongoing every single day including Tuesday.

Oil Prices

Oil prices climbed sharply on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures rising $1.05 or 1.09% to $97.05 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate advancing $1.01 or 1.08% to $94.77, as the renewed outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East stoked fears of further disruption to Persian Gulf supply routes. The move was exacerbated by tightening U.S. inventories, with American Petroleum Institute data showing crude stockpiles fell for a seventh consecutive week, declining 6.8 million barrels in the week ended May 29.

Asian Markets

Asian markets were broadly positive on Wednesday despite the geopolitical flare-up, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading the region with a 2.69% surge to 68,528.04 its strongest session in weeks driven by yen weakness and strong domestic buying. Thailand’s SET Index gained 1.26% and Indonesia’s JSX Composite advanced 1.11%, while Shanghai’s SSE Composite climbed 0.57%, Australia’s All Ordinaries rose 0.60%, and Malaysia’s KLCI edged up 0.45%. The primary exceptions were Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which fell 1.66% to 25,607.03 on renewed China-related caution, and Vietnam’s HNX 30, which dropped 1.87%, the two outliers in an otherwise constructive regional session. The divergence between an upbeat Asia and a sharply lower India highlighted that the domestic market’s weakness was as much a function of its oil-import vulnerability and IT sector exposure as it was a reflection of global risk-off sentiment.

Morning Open

Domestic capital markets opened sharply lower on Wednesday morning, dragged down by a fresh outbreak of hostilities in the Iran war that rattled global risk appetite and sent oil prices surging past the $97-a-barrel mark, compounding pressure on domestic markets already grappling with elevated crude, persistent foreign fund outflows and a weak global cue. The BSE Sensex tumbled 668.35 points or 0.90% to 73,981.49 as of 09:20, while the Nifty 50 fell 182.20 points or 0.78% to 23,301.35, extending the weakness that Gift Nifty futures had telegraphed in pre-market trade the June 30 contract had opened the session at 23,472.50, down 20 points, flagging a muted-to-negative start.

Source:

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