Indian equity benchmarks saw a sharp selloff on Monday, March 2, tracking heavy losses across global markets as geopolitical tensions in West Asia escalated following reported military actions involving the United States, Israel, and Iran.
The BSE SENSEX plunged as much as 2,743 points to an intraday low of 78,544, while the NSE NIFTY50 slid to 24,645 before recovering some losses.
As of 9:25 am IST, the SENSEX was down around 1,050 points at 80,236, while the NIFTY50 traded lower by 320 points at 24,860.
🌍 Global & Domestic Triggers
Escalating tensions in the Middle East over the weekend rattled investor sentiment worldwide, pushing funds toward safe-haven assets like gold and triggering volatility in crude oil prices amid supply concerns.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were aggressive sellers, offloading over ₹7,500 crore worth of Indian equities on Friday, wiping out most of February’s net inflows.
📊 Sectoral Performance
Selling pressure was broad-based:
- NIFTY Oil & Gas fell over 1.5% after a spike in global crude prices
- Realty, FMCG, Pharma, PSU Bank, Auto, Financial Services declined 0.5–2%
- Defence and Metal stocks outperformed, bucking the weak trend
📉 Stocks in Focus
- InterGlobe Aviation dropped nearly 4% after suspending Middle East operations
- Larsen & Toubro slid 3.6% due to its regional exposure
- Asian Paints, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Maruti Suzuki also saw losses
Gainers: Bharat Electronics, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Hindalco, HDFC Life
Market breadth remained sharply negative with 2,392 declines vs 440 advances on the NSE.
