Stock market update: Why Sensex, Nifty tumbled in opening deals today

The stock market opened in the red on Monday as US and Iran traded attacks over the weekend. The military attacks turned mood on the Dalal Street somber raising fears of supply disruption on critical shipping routes. Subsequently, brent crude oil prices were trading near the $85 per barrel mark. 

Sensex crashed 629 pts to 77,522 and the 50-stock Nifty slipped 160 pts to 24,172 in early deals on Monday. However, market cap of BSE-listed firms stood flat at Rs 480.66 lakh crore against Friday's figure of Rs 480.92 lakh crore. With today's fall, Nifty is down 7.39% this year and Sensex has lost 9% during the same period.   

Brent crude oil prices rose over 3% to $84.59 per barrel. 

Among Sensex constituents, Trent, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and Tech Mahindra were the top gainers, rising up to 2.26% today. Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndiGo, Maruti and Bajaj Finance were the Sensex losers falling up to 5.41% in early deals today. 

Banking stocks were among the top losers after Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank reported their Q1 earnings on Saturday. Profit booking was prevalent on the banking counter with Nifty Bank index tanking 934 pts to 57,586 even as earnings largely met estimates. 

Axis Bank shares slipped 6% to Rs 1249.05 against the previous close of Rs 1382.95. On similar lines, HDFC Bank stock fell 5% to Rs 777.50 against Friday's close of Rs 819.65. Kotak Bank shares also declined 3% to Rs 376.15 after the lender's Q1 earnings. 

Meanwhile, Asian markets slipped on Monday as the escalating conflict in the Gulf pushed oil prices higher and stoked fears of inflation. 

Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak Securities said, "A move below 24,200/77,600 could weaken sentiment, and traders should consider reducing long positions in such a scenario. Our strategy would be to lighten weak long positions in the 24,400-24,500 zone, while a decisive close above 24,600 would reinforce the positive medium-term outlook. For Bank Nifty, the short-term structure continues to remain positive, with the 20-day SMA near 57,800 acting as the immediate support. As long as the index holds above this level, it has the potential to move towards the 59,000-60,000 range. However, a breach below 57,800 could make the ongoing uptrend vulnerable and warrant a more cautious approach."

VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments said, "There are near-term headwinds and tailwinds for the market now. The strongest headwind is Brent crude spiking above $90 on escalating tensions between US and Iran. If this trend continues, India’s vulnerability to energy shock will resurface with negative implications for the rupee and FPI flows."

Previous session 

Sensex surged 965 points, or 1.25%, to close at 78,151, while the NSE Nifty50 advanced 261 points, or 1.09%, to settle at 24,344. During the session, Nifty touched an intraday high of 24,367.30.