Sensex Down 250 Points Amid Global Selloff After North Korea Missile Test

Indian stock markets fell sharply on Tuesday, tracking selloff in Asian markets after North Korea fired a missile over northern Japan, fuelling worries of fresh tension between Washington and Pyongyang. US stock futures and Asian share markets tumbled on Tuesday.  Japan's Nikkei fell 0.9 per cent to four-month low at one point while South Korea's Kospi shed as much as 1.6 percent, helping to drag down MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan 0.7 percent.

Analysts say the impact on the Indian markets is likely to be limited, unless the crisis escalates. Strong domestic flows into stock markets, led by mutual funds, is likely to provide support at lower levels, they say.

At 11:12 am, the Sensex was down nearly 250 points while Nifty fell to 9,826, down 86 points. 

North Korea fired a missile early on Tuesday that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific waters about 1,180 kilometres (735 miles) off the northern region of Hokkaido, in a sharp escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under young leader Kim Jong-Un, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is its first since 2009.

"The missile flew across Japan this time, so the implications will likely be a bit different from previous ones," said Hirokazu Kabeya, chief global strategist at Daiwa Securities.

North Korea threatened earlier this month to fire missiles into the sea near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam, a host to major U.S. military installations, after President Donald Trump warned Pyongyang would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States.

The yen rose 0.8 percent to 108.33 to the dollar, its highest since April, despite Japan's proximity to North Korea, and last stood at 108.79. The yen tends to benefit during times of geopolitical or financial stress as Japan is the world's biggest creditor nation and there is an assumption that Japanese investors will repatriate funds should a crisis materialize.

Investors also rushed to the safety of U.S. Treasuries, pushing down the 10-year yield to a two-month low of 2.124 percent. Investors are also looking to how Trump will react to North Korea, and to his push for tax reforms.  

Back in domestic markets, banking, healthcare, FMCG and power stocks led the fall. Among Nifty50 stocks, Coal India, HDFC, Bank of Baroda, HCL Tech and Indiabulls Housing Finance were down between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent. (With Reuters Inputs)