Sensex falls 280 pts, Nifty gives up 24,150 as US-Iran attacks continue

The Indian market opened lower on Tuesday as crude oil prices rose amid rising attacks between US and Iran. The renewed hostilities in the Middle East over Strait of Hormuz opening led the market into a tailspin today. Brent crude prices rose nearly 3% to $84.53 per barrel amid reports of escalation over Strait of Hormuz.

The escalation came after US and Iranian forces exchanged heavy missile and drone strikes, with Tehran targeting American military facilities across several Gulf states. 

Sensex crashed 280 points to 77,335 and Nifty lost 74 pts to 24,136 in early deals today. Among Sensex constituents, IndiGo, Bajaj Finance, HCL Tech, M&M and L&T were the top losers, falling up to 2.28%. Investor wealth fell by Rs 1 lakh crore today as market cap of BSE-listed firms fell to Rs 481.14 lakh crore against Rs 482.41 lakh crore on Monday.  

Time to be cautious 

"Investors have to exercise caution. In this fast changing geopolitical and economic environment, investment decision-making is becoming extremely challenging. Investors may watch this dynamic situation and wait for clarity to emerge, particularly on the crude price front. IT stocks are bouncing back from  low levels helped by low valuations and better-than-expected Q1 results from TCS and HCL Tech. This appears to be a short-term tactical trade," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments. 

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities said," We believe the 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) or 24,000/77000 will act as a key support zone for short-term traders. As long as the market trades above this level, the uptrend wave is likely to continue. On the upside, 24,275/77800 could act as immediate resistance for day traders. If the market successfully breaks above this level, the rally could continue towards 24,350-24,400/78000-78200. On the other hand, below 24,000/77000, the uptrend could weaken, and a gradual decline can occur towards 23800/76400."

Previous session 

Equity market staged a sharp intraday recovery to end marginally higher on Monday after a weak start, supported by buying interest in information technology (IT) and select banking stocks.

Sensex pack gained 47.01 points or 0.06 per cent to settle at 77,616.40, while the NSE Nifty50 index edged up 4.10 points, or 0.02 per cent, to close at 24,211.