Stock Market: Sensex, Nifty Continue To Bleed On Iran-Israel War Escalation Fears

New Delhi: India’s benchmark stock market indices Sensex and Nifty continued to trade on a weaker note in early morning trade on Friday, October 04, 2024. The 30 constituent index opened with a gap down at 82244.25 points. The broader stock gauge too opened in red at  25,181.90 levels. Among the Sensex pack, stocks like , Bajaj Finance, Asian Paints, RIL, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, , Adani Ports , Nestle, Tata Steel  etc were some of the stocks that traded in red.  Mostly oil and gas, metals and financial services stocks were the biggest laggards.

 Among the National Stock Exchange’s (NSE) thematic indices and financial services, auto, metals, realty, oil and gas etc all traded in negative territory. India’s stock gauges have recently faced huge selling pressure due to Sebi's latest measures to protect investor money in the F&O segment, foreign outflows and  heightened middle east tension. The indices have closed in red for the last four trading sessions in a row.

Crude Oil Become Costlier Amid Fresh Iran-Israel Escalation Warning

After Iran’s missile attacks on Israel, the latter has hinted at retaliatory strikes on Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure.  As a result, global oil benchmark Brent Crude prices have risen by around 5% in the last one week. On Friday, Brent Crude  was up  and traded  at $77.67  per barrel.

Other Asian Markets Trade Positive

While, other Asian markets of Japan and Seoul traded in positive territory. The former’s stoc gauges have remained buoyant in last few trading sessions as the country’s newly elected Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has directed Japanese central bank not to hurry with the rate hikes. While, stock gauges in Hong Kong also traded in positive territory on Friday.

On the other hand, mainland Chinese stock market indices are closed for the entire week. Recently, stock exchanges in China have risen phenomenally on account of fresh stimulus measures announced by the Chinese central bank. The policy makers last week pegged for reduction in interest rates to prop up its falling economy. Since then, the Chinese market gauges have only shot up in last few sessions.

On Thursday, India’s stock market gauges Sensex had settled 1,729 points lower at 82,536.52  points while, Nifty  tumbled down more than 2% and settled at 25,250.10  levels.   While, the US benchmark gauges had  closed marginally down on Thursday.

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