Sensex plunges over 900 points amid Middle East crisis, falling sharply by 216 points

The NSE Nifty index fell 216.9 points to 22,302.50 points.

Mumbai:

Equity benchmark indices tumbled in early trade on Monday, with the Sensex plunging 929.74 points amid ongoing conflict in the Middle East and weak trends in global markets.

Foreign capital outflows and stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data also caused trouble for the market.

The 30-stock BSE Sensex index extended its losses from the previous day and fell 929.74 points to 73,315.16 points. The NSE Nifty index fell 216.9 points to 22,302.50 points.

Looking at the Sensex basket, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Power Grid, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints are the major laggards.

Tata Consultancy Services on Friday reported a 9% rise in net profit at Rs 12,434 crore in the January-March quarter of fiscal 2024 on strong domestic business even as the company struggled in key overseas markets. Shares rose nearly 1%. .

Nestlé and HCL Technologies were other gainers.

In Asian markets, stocks in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were lower, while Shanghai was higher.

Wall Street closed sharply lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 0.17% to $90.30 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 8,027 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

“There are a number of headwinds that will weigh on markets today: renewed conflict in the Middle East, proposed changes to the India-Mauritius tax treaty and higher-than-expected U.S. inflation are all negative factors,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist. Geojit Financial Services.

But he added that some of these negative factors were reflected in prices, as Iranian retaliation was expected and markets priced in higher U.S. inflation on Friday.

The Income Tax Department on Friday said the revised India-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) is yet to be approved and notified by the ministry.

India and Mauritius signed the DTAA amendment on March 7, 2024 and incorporated the principal purpose test (PPT) in the agreement with the aim of reducing tax avoidance by ensuring that tax treaty benefits are granted only to transactions with a bona fide purpose.

On Friday, the BSE benchmark fell 793.25 points, or 1.06 per cent, to close at 74,244.90 points. The NSE Nifty index fell 234.40 points, or 1.03%, to 22,519.40 points.

Retail inflation fell to a five-month low of 4.85% in March, mainly due to cooling food prices, and was close to the Reserve Bank’s 4% target, according to official data released on Friday.

Official data released on Friday showed that India’s industrial production growth accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7% in February 2024, mainly due to the good performance of the mining industry.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)