Sensex Slips 900 Points, Nifty Down 260 Points From Day’s High As War Fears Take Over Election Fever

Indian equity benchmarks shed most of their early gains towards noon, as the Sensex was down about 900 points from its day’s high while the Nifty slipped about 266 points after touching the 24,290 mark.

The Sensex was trading at around the 77,000 mark, while the Nifty hovered at around 24,000 during 1:30 PM on Monday.

Both the benchmarks had opened higher on Monday on the back of de-escalation hopes on the war front, positive political cues, and robust auto sales in April.

While the Sensex had opened 0.44 percent higher at 77,257 points, the Nifty had opened at 24,063, which was 0.27 percent higher than the previous close.

As the Bharatiya Janata Party led in Assam and West Bengal, an unexpected trend in the latter state, the market also climbed.

However, as the situation cleared on the political front, the market turned to global factors for cues.

The offloading of shares worth Rs 8,047.86 crore by foreign institutional investors on Thursday dampened sentiment on Monday.

In response to the United States President Donald Trump’s “Project Freedom”, a naval mission to free stranded ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian military threatened that it would attack US forces if any attempt to approach or enter the waterway was made.

The warning also added about a percentage gain in oil prices, with the initially stable Brent crude rising past the $109 per barrel mark.

Iran’s warning against any movement in the Strait has again diminished hopes of relief in terms of energy supply.

The rupee also came under pressure on Monday, declining by up to 11 paise to 94.95 against the dollar. India’s Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said that the 4.3 percent fiscal deficit target for FY27 may be difficult to achieve.

According to experts, the impact of election results on the market will be very limited. The market trajectory will be guided by developments on the war front in the Gulf region.