Fears of rising Middle East hostilities are keeping markets in a downward spiral

Tuesday’s early trading saw a further decline in benchmark equity indexes due to concerns over worsening Middle East tensions and gloomy global trends.

An increase in the price of Brent crude oil and withdrawals of foreign funds further soured the market mood.

For the third day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 585.63 points to 72,814.15, continuing its downward trend. At 22,103.85, the NSE Nifty had a decrease of 168.65 points.

The biggest laggards in the Sensex basket were ICICI Bank, NTPC, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, and IndusInd Bank.

Among the winners were Maruti, Titan Company, Nestle, and Mahindra & Mahindra.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, and other Asian markets were trading at lower prices.

On Monday, Wall Street concluded in negative territory.

According to Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd., “tensions between Iran and Israel and higher-than-expected inflation data had an impact on market sentiment.”

The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude, increased by 0.58 percent to USD 90.62 a barrel.

Exchange data shows that foreign institutional investors sold off shares worth Rs 3,268 crore.

The geopolitical problem is more worrying the market, according to V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

It is more likely that tensions in the Middle East will rise as a result of Israel’s military chief’s declaration that “there will be a response to Iran’s attack on Israel.” The time and type of the Israeli reaction are unknown and may come as a complete surprise. In the short future, this is probably going to keep the markets sluggish, Vijayakumar said.

To end at 73,399.78, the BSE benchmark fell 845.12 points, or 1.14 percent. The NSE Nifty ended at 22,272.50, down 246.90 points, or 1.1%.