Indian shares open red as global oil prices climb

Mumbai, July 23 – The Indian equity market opened on the bearish side on Thursday, reflecting heightened anxiety over Middle‑East hostilities and rising crude prices. By 09:21 IST, the Sensex was down 208 points, or 0.27%, at 76,553, while the Nifty slipped 51 points, or 0.22%, to 23,941.

Pharmaceutical shares led the sell‑off, with the Nifty Pharma index falling 0.81% as a recent U.S. tariff announcement added to sectoral pressure.

Sector‑wide weakness was notable: Nifty Realty, Nifty IT, Nifty Oil & Gas, Nifty Services, Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty PSE, Nifty Infra and Nifty Commodities all ended in the red.

On the upside, indices linked to automobiles, metals, media, FMCG, defence and consumer durables showed modest gains.

Among the Sensex constituents, Trident, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank and Power Grid managed modest advances, while the likes of Infosys, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Tata Steel, SBI, TCS, Asian Paints, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma, Eternal, Bharti Airtel, Titan, HCL Tech and Kotak Mahindra Bank closed lower.

The sell‑off spread to mid‑ and small‑cap stocks as well. Nifty Midcap 100 dropped 152 points (0.25%) to 62,142, and Nifty Smallcap 100 slipped 33 points (0.17%) to 19,097.

International markets were mixed. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Jakarta posted gains, while Shanghai fell. In the United States, the Dow Jones stayed roughly flat, while the Nasdaq tech‑heavy index fell 0.57%.

Energy analysts said that a Houthi attack on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea has intensified the West Asian crisis, pushing Brent crude above $95 a barrel. The higher oil price environment is expected to dampen sentiment in Indian markets, highlighting the economy’s sensitivity to global energy cost spikes.