Sensex tanks over 900 points on concerns over Middle East conflict, weak global trends

Equity benchmark indices tanked in early trade on Monday, with the Sensex tumbling 929.74 points, amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and weak trends from global markets. Foreign fund outflows and hotter-than-expected US inflation data also played spoilsport for the markets.

Extending its previous day's decline, the 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 929.74 points to 73,315.16. The NSE Nifty declined 216.9 points to 22,302.50.

From the Sensex basket, Tata Motors, State Bank of India, Tata Steel, Power Grid, NTPC, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and Asian Paints were the major laggards.

Tata Consultancy Services climbed nearly 1 per cent after the IT services major on Friday reported a 9 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 12,434 crore in January-March quarter of FY24 due to strong domestic business even as the company struggled in its key markets overseas.

Nestle and HCL Technologies were the other gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading lower while Shanghai quoted in the positive territory.

Wall Street ended significantly lower on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.17 per cent to USD 90.30 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 8,027 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"There are many headwinds that will weigh on markets today: the renewed conflict in the Middle East, proposed changes in the India-Mauritius tax treaty and the hotter-than-expected US inflation are negatives," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

But partly these negatives are in the price since a retaliation from Iran was expected and the higher US inflation was discounted by the market on Friday, he added.

The Income Tax Department on Friday said the amended India-Mauritius protocol on double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) is yet to be ratified and notified by the department.

India and Mauritius on March 7, 2024, signed an amendment to the DTAA and included a principal purpose test (PPT) in the pact which aims to curtail tax avoidance by ensuring that treaty benefits are granted only for transactions with a bona fide purpose.

The BSE benchmark tanked 793.25 points or 1.06 per cent to settle at 74,244.90 on Friday. The NSE Nifty declined 234.40 points or 1.03 per cent to 22,519.40.

Retail inflation declined to a five-month low of 4.85 per cent in March mainly due to cooling food prices, inching towards the Reserve Bank's target of 4 per cent, according to official data released on Friday.

India's industrial production growth accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7 per cent in February 2024, mainly due to the good performance of the mining sector, according to official data released on Friday.