West Asia turmoil drags stock markets; Sensex tumbles 1,123 points, Nifty dives 1.55%

Mumbai: Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty dived more than 1 per cent on Wednesday in tandem with a weak trend in Asian markets as the conflict in West Asia intensified, driving oil prices higher.

Falling for the fourth straight session, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 1,122.66 points or 1.40 per cent to settle at 79,116.19. During the day, it crashed 1,795.65 points or 2.23 per cent to 78,443.20 but recovered some of the losses in the second half of the session.

The 50-share NSE Nifty dived 385.20 points or 1.55 per cent to end at 24,480.50, marking its third straight session of losses and logging the lowest closing level in the past six months. During the day, it dropped 560.3 points or 2.25 per cent to 24,305.40.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Steel tanked 6.76 per cent, followed by Larsen & Toubro (4.53 per cent). Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, InterGlobe Aviation, Bajaj Finserv and Kotak Mahindra Bank were also among the laggards.

Bharti Airtel, Infosys and Tech Mahindra were the gainers. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, jumped 3.08 per cent to USD 83.91 per barrel.

Asian markets ended with deep cuts. South Korea's Kospi tumbled 12 per cent. Japan's Nikkei 225, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also ended significantly lower.

European markets were trading in positive territory. The US market ended in negative territory on Tuesday.

The conflict in West Asia intensified with Iran continuing to pound several Gulf countries in retaliation for the joint attack against it by Israel and the US. The US and Israel have also carried out fresh strikes on Iran.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,295.64 crore on Monday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs), however, bought stocks worth Rs 8,593.87 crore.

Equity markets were closed on Tuesday for Holi.

On Monday, the Sensex ended at 80,238.85, down 1,048.34 points or 1.29 per cent. The Nifty settled 312.95 points or 1.24 per cent down at 24,865.70.