Sensex, Nifty trade lower amid fresh geopolitical tensions

The Indian equity markets opened on a cautious note on Thursday after witnessing a sharp rally in the previous session. Benchmark indices declined amid investor concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions, as reports suggested that Israel had attacked Lebanon’s Hezbollah, raising fears of a possible disruption in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Sensex traded 560 points or 0.72% lower at 77,003, hitting an intra-day low in early trade, while Nifty fell as much as 182 points or 0.75% to 23,815, also logging an intra-day low. Sectorally, IT, realty, banking, and auto stocks were among the top laggards, declining up to 1%.

Among the Nifty pack, Infosys, Shriram Finance, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finance, IndiGo, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, and M&M were the top losers.

According to analysts, traders should adopt a cautious approach, prefer a ‘buy on dips’ strategy near support levels, and avoid aggressive long positions at higher levels.

“This ongoing divergence between foreign and domestic flows continues to play a key role in market stability,” they added.

Analysts further noted that India VIX cooled sharply to around 19.69, indicating a decline in volatility, although markets may still witness intraday swings.

Silver’s previous closing price was ₹2,39,918. At market opening today, silver opened at ₹2,35,850. At the time of writing, it had fallen to a low of ₹2,35,133. Currently, silver is trading at ₹2,36,443, indicating a drop of ₹3,475 (-1.45%) compared to the previous day. However, from the day’s high level, it has recorded a sharp fall of ₹4,785.

Gold prices have also shown weakness today. The previous closing price of gold was ₹1,51,776, which opened lower today at ₹1,50,647. During the day, gold touched a low of ₹1,50,647. Currently, it is trading at ₹1,51,029, down by ₹747 (-0.49%) from the previous close. Compared to the opening figures and the high level, gold has recorded a total decline of up to ₹1,129.

Institutional flows continue to reflect divergence. On Wednesday, FIIs remained net sellers to the tune of approximately Rs 2,812 crore, while DIIs continued their strong buying with inflows of around Rs 4,168 crore.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures surged as much as 3.31% to $97.89 per barrel at 9:06 a.m. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at $98.38, up 4.2% from the previous close.

Asian stocks also traded lower, with the Nikkei, Hang Seng, and KOSPI down 0.77%, 0.17%, and over 1%, respectively.

In the US, Wall Street ended higher, with major indices finishing more than 2% up.

(This story was taken from syndicated feed and was only edited for style by Gujarat Samachar Digital team)