Sensex, Nifty Follow Global Peers Lower Amid Middle East Tensions

(RTTNews) - Indian shares fell sharply on Friday, tracking weak cues from global markets after Israel launched strikes against Iran, targeting nuclear facilities and ballistic missile factories as part of efforts "to damage Iran's nuclear infrastructure, its ballistic missile factories and military capabilities."

Iran retaliated by launching more than 100 drones toward Israeli territory, intensifying tensions in the oil-rich Middle East.

That news sent oil prices soaring past $70 per barrel and fueled worries about the outlook for inflation, interest rates and FII flows.

Markets also remained cautious on the U.S.-China trade deal. The specifics of the latest U.S-China framework agreement and details on how it will be implemented remain unclear.

It appears that there may still be significant disagreements and some details are yet to be worked out.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued a cautionary note, signaling that the brief rebound in global trade—fueled by firms rushing to beat U.S. tariffs—is now losing steam and the global economic outlook remains clouded by uncertainty.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit an intra-day low of 80,354.59 before recovering some ground to end the session down 573.28 points, or 0.70 percent, at 81,118.60.

The broader NSE Nifty index closed down 169.60 points, or 0.68 percent, at 24,718.60, after having hit a low of 24,473 earlier.

The broader market outperformed, with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes falling around 0.3 percent each.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,451 shares declining while 1,538 shares advanced and 133 shares closed unchanged.

Selling was seen across the board, with Adani Ports leading losses to end 2.6 percent lower. Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan Company, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, SBI and ITC fell 1-2 percent.