Sensex, Nifty Fall Amid Israel-Iran Conflict Worries; ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank Drag: Midday Market Update
As of 12:09 p.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 0.59%, lower at 22,386.95, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.62%, to trade at 73,783.06.
Indian benchmark stock indices fell through midday on Monday as investors shunned riskier assets due to the Israel-Iran conflict.
As of 12:09 p.m., the NSE Nifty 50 was trading 132.45 points, or 0.59%, lower at 22,386.95, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 461.84 points, or 0.62%, to trade at 73,783.06.
The NSE Nifty 50 declined 1.14% to touch an intraday low of 22,263.55, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 1.25% to hit the day's low of 73,315.16.
"Our view is that the weak sentiment will likely continue as long as the indices (Nifty and Sensex) are trading below 22,500 and 74,000," said Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities.
"Markets will also take cues from the IMD Southwest monsoon forecast and WPI data likely to be released later today," said Avdhut Bagkar, a technical and derivatives analyst at StoxBox.
ICICI Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Infosys Ltd., and ITC Ltd. weighed on the benchmark Nifty 50.
Reliance Industries Ltd., Oil and Natural Gas Corp of India Ltd., Hindalco Industries Ltd., Nestle India Ltd., and Bajaj Auto Ltd. limited losses to the index.
On NSE, nine out of 12 sectors declined, and three advanced. The NSE Nifty Media declined the most, while NSE Nifty Oil and Gas emerged as the best among the sectors.
Broader markets were also trading lower, with the S&P BSE Midcap trading 0.97% lower and the S&P BSE Smallcap falling 1.08% through midday trade on Monday.
On BSE, 17 out of 20 sectors were trading in negative territory, and three were positive. The S&P BSE Services sector was the worst performer, while the S&P BSE Oil and Gas sector was the best performing sector.
Market breadth was skewed in favour of sellers. Around 2,956 stocks fell, 800 stocks advanced, and 150 stocks remained unchanged on the BSE.