Asian markets tumble as Middle East conflict escalates, India joins decline

Heightened conflict in the Middle East spilled over into Asian equity markets on Monday, pulling Indian shares into a bearish start. By 9:18 a.m. IST the Sensex was down 649 points, a 0.84 percent slide to 76,920, while the Nifty slipped 184 points, or 0.76 percent, to 24,022.

The sell‑off was broad‑based. The Nifty Mid‑Cap 100 index fell 280 points (0.44 percent) to 62,756 and the Nifty Small‑Cap 100 dropped 66 points (0.37 percent) to 19,349. The largest percentage falls were recorded in metal, financial services and consumer sectors. Auto, defence, private banks, PSU banks, commodities, infra, services, consumer durables, oil & gas and FMCG indices also logged losses. Only the IT and pharma indices managed modest gains.

Among individual equities, TCS, HCLTech, Power Grid and NTPC were the few in the green. A host of other stocks – Tata Steel, IndiGo, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, L&T, Eternal, UltraTech Cement, BEL, Titan, M&M, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, Infosys and ITC – closed lower.

Across the region, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul all opened and closed in the red, while Jakarta was the exception, posting a slight rise. In the United States, the previous trading day ended positively, with the Dow up 0.29 percent and the Nasdaq technology index gaining a similar margin.

The market pressure stems from fresh U.S. strikes on Iran after attacks on commercial vessels, coupled with Iran’s aggressive posture toward U.S. installations in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan. Crude oil surged, with Brent Crude up more than 4 percent to around $79 a barrel and WTI climbing close to $74 a barrel.