Smallcaps Lead Rout as Geopolitical Fears Tear Through Indian Markets

Mumbai, April 2: Stock markets in India extended losses into the morning session on Thursday with smaller stocks getting hit the hardest. Leading losers among broad market indices, Nifty Smallcap 50 plummeted 3.25% to 7,417.40, whereas Nifty Smallcap 100 dropped 3.16%. Nifty Midcap 100 was down 3.10% to 52,150.80 as well. India VIX climbed up by 4.81% to 26.22 marking a panic sell in the market.

Sector wise carnage was widespread with interest-rate sensitive and defensive sectors taking the maximum beating as Nifty PSU Bank crashed 3.79% to 7,855.55 and Nifty Realty declined sharply by 3.76% to 640 ending in the red for the day. Global oil price surge & geopolitical concerns continue to worry investors. Nifty Pharma was down 3.55% at 21,230.45 and Nifty Healthcare fell 3.36% marking even defensive sectors struggling to hold ground. Nifty IT managed to curb losses by slipping only 0.62%.

In derivatives eligible indices, Nifty 50 was down 2.05% to 22,213.95. Nifty Midcap Select witnessed biggest losses among the indices quoted above by crashing 3.10% to 12,074.10. Nifty Next 50 declined by 3.06% to 60,015.95 followed by Nifty Bank which declined 2.73% to 50,044.00 and Nifty Financial Services that fell 2.45% to 23,393.60.

Asian Markets Plunge

Asian markets had opened significantly lower earlier in the morning with South Korea’s KOSPI plunging 3.7%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 shedding nearly 2% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, Taiwan Weighted and Jakarta Composite shedding between 0.9% and 1.4%. Our own GIFT Nifty also had hinted at weak opening in Indian market by tumbling down by 1.72%.

US President Donald Trump had addressed the nation in prime time on Wednesday evening stating that US will continue its war on Iran alongside Israel and will strike Iran “extremely hard” over the coming two to three weeks. Trump had further threatened that the US may target Iran’s energy and oil sectors in the coming days which didn’t go down well with markets across the globe from Tokyo to Mumbai.

Sources:

• https://www.bseindia.com/index.html
• https://www.nseindia.com/market-data/live-market-indices